LEAGUE NOTES

     The NHL will not "get excited" about St. Paul, MN's bid for
an expansion team until there is public financing to renovate St.
Paul Civic Center.  One person involved in league expansion: "We
don't operate on promises in the NHL, especially in Minnesota,
where we got a lot of promises about what they were going to do
for the (Winnipeg) Jets and then didn't come through"
(Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/13). ....MLS Deputy Commissioner
Sunil Gulati is interviewed in USA TODAY.  Gulati says Boston
"has the potential for doing better.  They averaged 18,000 for a
team that struggled."  Denver is "going to take some work.  We
need a player or two to excite the fans."  KC's fan base "is not
large, but we're going to be OK there" (USA TODAY, 10/16).