SKYBOX STATE: COLLEGES GETTING IN ON THE ACT

     Noting that nearly "three dozen universities in six
conferences now have the private boxes and half a dozen more are
planning to add them," Robert Bryce of the N.Y. TIMES examines
how skyboxes are "proliferating" college basketball and football
stadiums.  Bryce points out that a college skybox that seats from
8-50 people costs between $8,000-80,000 a season.  USC Dean of
Planning & Development Edward Blakely: "It's a creeping and
disturbing trend. ... This is the privatization of public space"
(N.Y. TIMES, 9/23).  A WASHINGTON POST editorial adds, "So this
is what college football has come to since the days of the racoon
coat and hip flask."  The editorial continues that skyboxes are a
"shame for the game," pointing out that "Now well-off fans ...
can isolate themselves not only from the football itself, just as
in the NFL, but also ... everything else that gives the occasion
its flavor" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/24).