WILL THERE BE A SIGNED CBA EXTENSION UNDER THE NFL'S TREE?

     NFL owners "bought themselves at least one extra year of
labor peace" with the extension of the CBA, according to Paul
Domowitch in Philadelphia.  But they were not able to get a cap
on signing bonuses -- "the one thing they wanted most."  NFLPA
Exec Dir Doug Allen:  "We were never going to agree to gutting
the signing bonus rules.  And even if we had been willing to, the
players would never have voted for it."  Allen said waiting until
'99 would have led to a "strained" situation more like MLB
(PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 12/22).  HBO's Gary Myers:  "The reason
this deal got done Tuesday night is because the owners gave up
their fight for what's called 'the cap within a cap' when they
were trying to put further restrictions on signing bonuses.  They
are going to have to rely on their own good judgment now, and
also some modifications that came out of the Deion Sanders
contract to restrict their own spending" ("Inside the NFL,"
12/21).