S.F. MAYOR BROWN FORCES MLB GIANTS TO PAY IF THEY EVER LEAVE

          In San Francisco, noting the final phase of talks
     before Monday's announcement centered on a complicated
     "nonrelocation agreement," the lease between the MLB Giants
     and S.F. Mayor Willie Brown for Pacific Bell Park was
     examined by Edward Epstein of the S.F. CHRONICLE.  Terms of
     the lease, which begins in 2000, include that if the team
     defaulted on its $140M debt, the city would get 90 days to
     find a local buyer, and after that the team could be sold to
     out-of-town interests only if there is no qualified local
     buyer.  Also in the lease is that if the team were to leave
     before the end of the 35th year of the 66-year total lease,
     they would be required to tear down the ballpark and return
     the site to the condition in which it was turned over to the
     team.  Brown: "I want them tied up, so there will be no
     thought of ever exiting.  I'm taking out insurance" (S.F.
     CHRONICLE, 12/18).