FRANCHISE NOTES

     NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue met Sunday with Seahawks
Owner Ken Behring and Blazers Owner Paul Allen, who has an option
to buy the team, in an attempt to "massage" the proposed sale of
the club.  Tagliabue expressed "optimism" the sale will be
consummated as long as a suitable stadium solution is found
(SEATTLE TIMES, 11/4). ...Since Devils Owner John McMullen owned
the Astros from '79-92 and knows about the Houston market, NHL
owners will "heed what he has to say" in its expansion process.
Neil Hohlfeld writes McMullen is now "lying low, not tipping his
hand as to which [ownership] group he favors. But make no
mistake, he will have a say in who owns the NHL team in Houston"
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 11/5).