FRANCHISE NOTES

          NFL owners officially approved Paul Allen's purchase of
     the Seahawks from Ken Behring (Mult., 8/20)....In Chicago,
     under the header, "Just Admit It Jerry: You Need A New
     Comiskey," Carol Slezak writes, "So it's time for [White Sox
     Chair Jerry] Reinsdorf to say, 'I made a big, huge, terrible
     mess of a mistake when I built Comiskey Park.'  And it's
     time for him to do something about it" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES,
     8/20)....In Orlando, Charean Williams writes that Disney's
     Wide World of Sports and the Florida Citrus Bowl "could
     offer the Bucs a short-term solution" for a summer training
     site while construction continues on their new complex, set
     to open as part of their new stadium in September '98.  Bucs
     officials have toured the Disney Sports complex for a
     potential training site (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/20)....The NHL
     Rangers have signed a letter of intent to move their
     practice site to Manhattanville College in Purchase N.Y.,
     possibly as soon as next summer  (N.Y. TIMES, 8/19).