NFL owners and team officials will meet in Palm Desert,
CA, starting today for their annual league meetings. In
Denver, Adam Schefter writes that of "all the issues" the
NFL owners will discuss -- cross-ownership, the CBA,
expansion -- "none will garner the attention that instant
replay will" (DENVER POST, 3/9). In N.Y., Gary Myers writes
that "predictions are" replay "has a very good chance of
coming back" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/9). Other issues to be
discussed: the possibility of moving the Pro Bowl to
Orlando, FL; future sites of the American Bowl series;
extending the CBA beyond 2001; and a future relationship
with the CFL (John Crumpacker, S.F. EXAMINER, 3/9).
CROSS-OWNERSHIP: Dolphins Owner Wayne Huizenga has
until June 1 to get the NFL to change its cross-ownership
policy, according to Armando Salguero of the MIAMI HERALD.
NFL Senior VP/Communications Joe Browne: "There has to be
more discussions because we're nearing the midnight hour."
Dolphins President Eddie Jones: "Of course we're concerned
about this issue." The Bills' Ralph Wilson, Saints Owner
Tom Benson and the Raiders and Bears "have been vehement
opponents of changes." If the Dolphins "can't swing enough
votes at these meetings, they'll get one final opportunity"
at meetings in San Diego, afterwhich Huizenga can "request
another extension from the commissioner -- something that's
unlikely because he already has been granted one extension
-- or he can challenge the league's policy in court" (MIAMI
HERALD, 3/9). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir notes in cross-
ownership opponents "argued that allowing cross-ownership
would inevitably lead to corporate ownership" (N.Y. TIMES,
3/10). Bills Owner Ralph Wilson: "It's the last rule, the
last bastion. I'd like to see the league stand for
something." Wilson, on the league not fighting the Rams
move to St. Louis: "We wilted there. That opened the
floodgates. We could have defended the guidelines. I don't
know why the commissioner changed in 30 days (the owners
first turned down the Rams move in March 1995 before
approving it a month later). We probably got threatened. I
call it the fast meltdown. Any time anybody threatens us,
our knees start shaking" (Baltimore SUN, 3/9). In Detroit,
Lions Vice-Chair William Ford, Jr., says both Huizenga and
potential Seahawks buyer Paul Allen "would be real additions
to the league. Huizenga already has." Ford, Jr.: "But I
don't think it's good for the league and I don't like the
way the NFL is kind of making it a fait accompli. They're
basically letting these guys in and now they're saying to
owners, 'You don't want to throw these poor guys out, do
you?' My point is, they should have never let them in in the
first place" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 3/8).
EXPANSION: In L.A., T.J. Simers writes on expansion
under the header, "No Team In Sight: Despite City's
Overtures Touting A New Coliseum And NFL's Grudging
Blessings, Issue Is Not Even On Agenda For Owners Meetings."
Simers: "The NFL brass, which includes most notably NFL
President Neil Austrian, has been dealing exclusively the
past few months with the folks pushing the new Coliseum
plan. ... the old, the new, the whatever Coliseum you want
to call it refuses to die. And now there is tangible
evidence of a stadium site with some of the perks necessary
to attract the big-money owner it will take to bring the NFL
to Los Angeles. ... The NFL needs Los Angeles to become
interested in football again. The league has gone so far as
to embrace the new Coliseum ... although privately was loath
to do so at the outset" (L.A. TIMES, 3/9).
