With the team's "poor attendance" in '95 and a modest TV
deal, David Shoalts of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL examines the
Whalers financial situation, adding the club "can't avoid the
appearance of a team just marking time until moving day" (Toronto
GLOBE & MAIL, 9/20)....Raleigh, NC and Wake County officials say
they are pursuing an NHL expansion franchise to play at a
proposed new 21,000-seat arena planned for the city (CHARLOTTE
OBSERVER, 9/20)....John Niyo of the DETROIT NEWS questions
whether Detroit will be home to an MLS expansion franchise that
would play in the proposed new Lions facility. MLS Commissioner
Doug Logan: "There's no economic pressure on us to expand. But
naturally, we'd have to think about Detroit. That's a fertile
area for soccer" (DETROIT NEWS, 9/20)....The Raiders are about
17,000 tickets short of selling out Oakland Coliseum for this
Sundays game (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 9/20)....S.F. columnist
Scott Ostler, on the "premeditated vandalism" that caused a water
shutoff at Oakland Coliseum during the Raiders home opener last
Sunday: "It had to be someone with inside knowledge and an anti-
Raider agenda. You'd better have an air-tight alibi, Carmen
Policy". ...Ostler's view of A's Owner Steve Schott asking fans
to "step up and accept the challenge" of ticket price cuts in
'97: "Translation: Gentlemen of Sacramento, start your
bulldozers" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/20)....The new address of the
Twins office will become 34 Kirby Puckett Place when a area of
streets are renamed at a ceremony in October (Minneapolis STAR-
TRIBUNE, 9/20)....Saints Owner Tom Benson, on poor attendance at
the Superdome: "Financially, it will probably be one of the
worst years the Saints ever had ... but that's part of the storms
you encounter in business" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 9/18).
