In Barcelona, 31,000 attended Sunday's World League
World Bowl (Fox, 6/22). The World League was examined by
Ralph Paulk of the AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, who reported that
during the last three seasons, it "has experienced
considerable growth. The attendance figures are higher,
particularly in Germany's two franchise cities -- Rhein and
Frankfurt. More importantly, the league has gained more
exposure." League President Oliver Luck "is credited with
helping revive interest and enthusiasm" in the league,
"giving NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue reason enough to
persuade all 30 NFL owners to financially back the upstart
league." Luck and Tagliabue "are now discussing the
possibility of expansion" in '99, but "won't do so in 1998
because the World Cup soccer championships will be held in
France next summer." Luck: "We would definitely look at [a]
third Germany city" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 6/22).
NOTES: World League ratings on FX "have been slightly
lower this year" than '96, but Fox Sports Exec VP George
Krieger said, "Clearly, we want to be in business with the
NFL," and added that the programming will help increase
Fox's presence in Europe, Asia and Latin America....Although
Luck says the league will lose about $10M in '97, he hopes
to add two teams by 2000. There are "no plans" for a return
to the U.S....The WASHINGTON POST's Tyler Kepner cited an
NFL source who said each NFL team donates $300,000-400,000
annually to the World League (WASHINGTON POST, 6/22).
