NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, "while offering a
surprising list of positive signs for the NFL's return to
Los Angeles, said Tuesday it would be unlikely for the [NHL]
Kings' owners to be awarded a team next March and begin play
in a new Coliseum in 2000," according to T.J. Simers of the
L.A. TIMES. Tagliabue: "The return of football to Los
Angeles in 2001 is more realistic." Part of the league's
attraction of the L.A. market is the large population, as
Tagliabue said, "In 1993, in our 14 AFC markets, we reached
27 million households, and now in our 15 AFC markets in 1997
we reach 22 million ... the same in the NFC -- 31 million in
1993 and 28 now. That's not positive, and L.A. with its
tremendous population, remedies that" (L.A. TIMES, 5/21).
DON'T INVITE THESE TWO TO THE SAME PARTY: The TIMES'
Simers writes that Tagliabue's "upbeat pronouncement after
recent discouraging talk about the prospects for expansion
and a less-than-enthusiastic welcome for the Kings' owners,
overshadowed" Ravens Owner Art Modell's "flippant and
disparaging comments earlier in the day about the Coliseum
neighborhood, which enraged City Councilman Mark Ridley-
Thomas." Modell: "We used to avoid playing [in the
Coliseum] at night during the preseason. I was afraid my
players would get hit harder by the crowd that the Rams or
Raiders." Ridley-Thomas, who is spearheading the Coliseum
bid, called the comments "blatantly irresponsible,
gratuitously disparaging, uninformed at best and
irresponsible at worst" (T.J. Simers, L.A. TIMES, 5/21).
But Mike Freeman of the N.Y. TIMES writes that "in order for
football to flourish" at the Coliseum, "people must be
convinced -- as well as the owners -- that the area is a
safe one." Freeman: "Unless there is a dramatic shift in
thinking among the owners, there will probably not be either
a relocated team or new professional team in Los Angeles in
the next several years" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/21).
NOTES: ESPN's Chris Mortensen: "Colts Owner Jim Irsay
and the league are working hard on a new stadium and revenue
plan to stay in that city, but the greatest issue for Irsay
is this: can the Indianapolis market generate the type of
luxury box suite sales to be competitive? If the answer is
no, then the Colts are odds-on to become the next Cleveland
Browns team" ("SportsCenter," 5/20)....Tagliabue said that
the league won't decide whether to extend its current CBA
with the NFLPA "until its fall meetings in October at the
earliest (Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY, 5/21).
