Bills season-ticket holders will lose their existing
     seats and be asked to choose new ones in the renovated Rich
     Stadium, officials said.  Those holding tickets the longest
     will be given first pick (AP/Rochester DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE,
     10/8)....In Milwaukee, individual tickets to the Bucks' two
     Bulls games will not be made available this year.  Instead,
     fans must buy them as part of a 10-pack or full season-
     ticket deals (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/9)....ESPN's
     Sal Paolantonio: "If the Twins get a new ballpark and the
     Vikings don't, Vikings team President Roger Headrick told me
     on Wednesday his team is prepared to relocate, some say to
     Cleveland, others to Los Angeles.  Headrick told me the
     Vikings have already calculated how to buy out the remaining
     fifteen years on their Metrodome lease" ("SportsCenter,"
     ESPN, 10/8)....The Hurricanes have signed 23 corporate
     partners: 360 Communications, A-B, Atcom, Austin Quality
     Foods, BTI, Blockbuster Video, Capital Ford Rentals,
     Carolina Ford Dealers, Carolina Turkeys, East Wind Airlines,
     Glaxo Wellcome, Greensboro Hilton, HealthSource NC/Cigna,
     Howard, Perry & Walston Realtors, Kimberly-Clark, Long
     Transportation, Office Depot, Raleigh Iceplex, Rex
     Healthcare, Sprint, Taco Bell, US Post Office and Vinnie's
     Steakhouse (TRIANGLE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/6 issue).

          MLS's Chicago expansion franchise announced yesterday
     that it will be called the Fire, but an "entirely different
     name, the Rhythm, was all but set in stone earlier this
     year," according to Bonnie DeSimone of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. 
     The Rhythm had been conceived by Nike, which held the first
     option to be the team apparel supplier.  The name was
     approved by the league office and the Rhythm logo and colors
     had already appeared on merchandise in soccer catalogues. 
     But team Owner Philip Anschutz and President Bob Sanderman
     "balked at the name."  Fire GM Peter Wilt: "We were getting
     tremendous pressure from the league to pick a name in short
     order.  They wanted to make sure that they could get
     merchandise out in time for the first year.  But I said I'd
     rather lose one year in merchandise sales than spend a
     lifetime with a bad name."  Although "some feathers were
     ruffled at Nike," the company "decided to stick with
     Chicago" but told team owners that they had to come up with
     their own name and design.  Nike Soccer Sports Marketing
     Manager Steve Scott: "[W]e thought Rhythm was going to
     cruise in.  Our apparel graphic and design process is so
     involved, we didn't have the time or resources to do it
     again at that point."  The Fire's logo is a facsimile of a
     fire department badge (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/9).  The team's
     colors will be red, blue and silver.  Nike and All Sport are
     the club's first two sponsors.  The team also announced that
     Henry Cardenas, of Chicago promotion firm Cardenas-
     Fernandez, will serve as its liaison to the Hispanic
     community (Len Ziehm, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 10/9).

          Attending an NBA owners meeting in N.Y. today, T-Wolves
     Owner Glen Taylor "might find himself on the outs with a
     group in which he had been a central figure -- investors in
     small-market teams," according to Steve Aschburner of the
     Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE.  Taylor, who signed F Kevin
     Garnett to $125M contract extension, said, "I've already had
     owners call me.  It wasn't anything negative.  More along
     the lines of, 'We understand.'  They know you're darned if
     you do and darned if you don't" (STAR TRIBUNE, 10/9).  
          BREAK DOWN: In an analysis of Garnett's new contract
     and the Timberwolves' finances, the AP determined that the
     deal "is built on the rosiest of scenarios -- including a
     possible doubling of the NBA's $1.1 billion, four-year, TV
     contract with NBC and Turner Broadcasting starting next
     season."  The renewal of the team's local media deals,
     increased profits this season and higher ticket prices in
     the future also will help, and "if all goes well, the
     Timberwolves could blossom into a glamour franchise and grow
     in value to more than $300 million by the end of the
     contract."  But the analysis also shows that team losses
     could reach $56M over the life of the deal, with $103M in
     losses occurring over the last four years.  One way the team
     "might avert" those losses is with pay-per-view broadcast
     rights for future games (AP/STAR TRIBUNE, 10/9).