The Tampa Sports Authority (TSA), at a board meeting on
Monday, approved Sprint's $424,000 bid to install a
telephone system at the Bucs' new football stadium currently
being constructed, according to Tom Jackson of the TAMPA
TRIBUNE. The Sprint bid was accepted over a bid from Tampa-
based GTE which was $90,000 higher. The TSA also "moved to
lure youth and amateur sports championships to town," as the
Hillsborough County Commission voted $30,000 in seed money
to set up a nonprofit corporation to lure tournaments and
athletic events to Tampa (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 8/19).
WELCOME BACK? The TRIBUNE's Jackson also noted that
former TSA Exec Dir Rick Nafe, now a VP with the Devil Rays,
"was extended an open invitation to visit the authority's
Houlihan Stadium luxury box" during the meeting. Some
members of the TSA executive committee had attempted "to bar
Nafe from the box ... to make it clear that Henry Saavedra,
once Nafe's lieutenant, now his successor, was in charge."
TSA Chair Sandy MacKinnon: "When a general leaves his
command, he leaves the base. He shouldn't be a shadow
overlying the post." But Hillsborough County Commissioner
Jim Norman said, "This is not ... the military. This is an
entertainment venue. Banning Rick Nafe is just going too
far" (Tom Jackson, TAMPA TRIBUNE, 8/19).