Marty York writes from Toronto that if the Ottawa Rough
Riders are allowed to end operations Monday, owners in the CFL
will be "indirectly telling" CFL Commissioner Larry Smith they've
"lost confidence in him," as he is "strongly urging" teams to
continue their support for the franchise (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL,
8/24).... The RHI Sacramento River Rats announced the offering of
250,000 shares of Class A Common Stock for partial ownership of
the team (River Rats)....Despite local support for George Brett
leading a new ownership group for the Royals, Brett says, "My
position is the team is not for sale and when it is for sale,
we'll decide if we're interested or if this is a waste of time"
(K.C. STAR, 8/23)....The CBA awarded an expansion franchise to
Boise, ID. The Stampede will start play in '97-98 (CBA). ...In
Orlando, Larry Guest writes that a "necessary break-even crowd"
of 52,000 did not attend Saturday's Cowboys /Oilers game in
Orlando (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/25). ...In a highly combative
interview on "NFL Preview," CNN's Vince Cellini discussed the
move of the Cleveland franchise to Baltimore with Ravens Owner
Art Modell. Modell to Cellini, after the Cellini continued to
interrupt with a argumen-tative tone: "Slow down, friend. Let's
continue our friendship" (CNN, 8/25)....ESPN's Peter Gammons on
the Pirates and team management possibly trading top players:
"They [Pirates GM Cam Bonifay & Manager Jim Leyland] knew
[Pirates owner] Kevin McClatchy didn't have a ton of money when
he bought this club. It's really a shame....The [MLB] owners
shouldn't let these expansion teams in until they've taken care
of these other problems. But they wanted to take the money from
those communities and then worry about the other problems"
("Baseball Tonight," ESPN 8/25).
