"Almost two years from the date they rejected Baltimore's
expansion application," NFL owners will vote during their
November 7 meeting in Dallas on whether to guarantee the city a
team, according to this morning's Baltimore SUN. The NFL Stadium
Committee agreed to MD Gov. Parris Glendening's request the
matter be put before the 30 team owners. "Getting it passed,
however, could be a different matter," according to the SUN's Jon
Morgan. The committee, headed by Panthers Owner (and former Colt
player) Jerry Richardson has not made a recommendation on the
proposal. That led MD Stadium Authority Chair John Moag to say:
"That reinforces my inclination not to get too excited about it."
NFL Dir of Communications Greg Aiello: "The purpose of the
resolution is to provide a framework for a full-membership
discussion of the league's future in Baltimore and surrounding
areas." The proposed resolution the owners will vote on reads as
follows: "The membership hereby approves a request by the
Governor of Maryland that the NFL commit to the state of Maryland
to locate an NFL franchise in a proposed new football-only
stadium in Baltimore." In return, Glendening said he would
maintain the funding mechanism that has been established for
building a $200M stadium (Jon Morgan, Baltimore SUN, 10/24).
ON THE JERRY JONES FRONT: Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones filed a
motion yesterday to have NFL Properties' $300M lawsuit against
his team thrown out of court. Jones has argued that his Texas
Stadium agreements with Nike, American Express and Dr Pepper are
not in violation of NFLP agreements because the contracts are
with Texas Stadium and not the team. The team indicated
yesterday's motion to dismiss was a "final step before the team
files a countersuit" (Josie Karp, FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM,
10/24).
AS FOR DEION: The NFL officially informed the Cowboys the
league considers Deion Sanders' contract with the team invalid
and "might prevent him from competing this weekend." That led
Jones to promise that Deion would play this weekend -- "one way
or the other." The league is currently in negotiations with the
NFLPA and the team over how to allocate Sanders' $13M signing
bonus in regards to the league's salary cap. Jones believes the
matter will be resolved in U.S. District Court by Judge David
Doty sometime this week (Ed Werder, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 10/24).
