A pledge to guarantee the Brewers a season-ticket base of
10,000 seats this year "could cost the local business community
more than $1 million," according to Craig Gilbert of the
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.  The Metro Milwaukee Assoc of
Commerce (MMAC) and the Greater Milwaukee Committee made a
"multi-year pledge" in January to guarantee Brewers season ticket
sales.  Thus far, sales are "more than 25% short" of that target.
MMAC President Tim Sheehy said the group still plans to work with
the team to sell additional partial season ticket packages.  The
two groups have also offered pledges for future years, including
10,000 in '96, 12,000 for '97, and a guarantee of 2.2 million
attendance in '98, '99 and 2000 (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL,
7/27).

     The Redskins "received a rare open-arms welcome from a local
government yesterday," with the approval of a zoning change that
could cut a year from the process of building a new stadium from
a Prince George's County Council committee, according to this
morning's WASHINGTON POST.  Redskins Owner Jack Kent Cooke wants
to build a 78,000-seat stadium in suburban Landover near the
Capital Beltway.  The full council is expected to vote on the
zoning changes in September (David Leonhardt, WASHINGTON POST,
7/28).

     The invoices filling the mailboxes of the 700 businesses
that signed up for executive and skysuite boxes at the new
FleetCenter are about 15% higher than the "already formidable
rental fees agreed to just a year ago," reports Alex Beam in this
morning's BOSTON GLOBE.  New Boston Garden Corp. President Larry
Moulter explains that the Celtics and Bruins "unexpectedly jacked
up" their top ticket prices from $40 to $70 and $60, "which sent
the skybox prices skyrocketing."  Moulter:  "The concept of an
increase was never unknown to these people but the specifics
certainly came as a surprise" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/28).