ABL'S NEW CHAPTER MAY INCLUDE A PHILADELPHIA STORY

          The ABL "has been looking into the availability" of
     Univ. of Penn's Palestra as a "potential building that would
     more than meet the needs of a league franchise," according
     to Mel Greenberg of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.  The
     Palestra's capacity is 8,700.  Greenberg: "An ABL team could
     be operating here as early as this winter.  This would be
     well ahead of the timetable that had been set by league
     officials, and would be a preemptive strike against the WNBA
     establishing a franchise here."  The league could award
     Philadelphia with an expansion franchise, giving the league
     ten teams.  Or if the ABL "decides to move an existing
     franchise here, the leading candidate would appear to be the
     Richmond Rage," who "struggled" at the gate despite having
     Olympian Dawn Staley (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/14).