Bernie Kosar has teamed with OH entrepreneur Thomas
Murdough to try to buy the new Browns franchise, according
to Becky Yerak of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. Kosar and
Murdough are "trying to put together a group of business
executives to buy the team." Currently, the group includes
only Murdough and Kosar. Murdough, when asked if he could
afford the franchise fee: "I'm encouraged by comments from
Paul Tagliabue that it will be a fair price. When you start
getting over $300 million, I question whether that's a fair
price" (Cleveland PLAIN-DEALER, 3/25). ESPN's John Clayton
reported on "a heated debate" among owners regarding the
Browns' expansion fee. Clayton said some "hardline owners
wish to go between $500 million and $1 billion. But others
knowledgeable with the process expect it to settle between"
$300M to $500M ("SportsCenter," 3/24). Tagliabue said
ownership could be in place by this summer: "That would be
ideal" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 3/25). In Akron, Terry Pluto
puts Al Lerner and Richard Jacobs as the favorites to land
the team. He writes NFL owners "know" and "like" Lerner
(AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 3/25). In N.Y., George Vecsey calls
the NFL granting Cleveland an expansion team a "delightful
case of swift justice" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/25).
L.A. STORY: Going to 31 teams will lead to a new bye
week format. Each week will include one team out of action
and a team will have a bye in week one and week 17. In
L.A., T.J. Simers writes that "club officials are grumbling
already and the new schedule is a year away from being
released." Chargers Owner Alex Spanos: "We have to go to 32
teams." Bills Owner Ralph Wilson: "Let's face it, L.A. is
the prime candidate to become the 32nd team, if it just gets
a stadium." Simers: "But if the unbalanced schedule favors
Los Angeles' chances to force the expansion issue, Raiders
Owner Al Davis has maintained that nothing will get done in
Los Angeles without his permission." Davis: "[W]e do own
the L.A. opportunity for sure." Wilson: "The hell he does."
Simers: "Houston's chances of winning an expansion franchise
rest on only one thing: Los Angeles losing that
opportunity." But Simers writes that "could happen" since
public money is unavailable and an "owner conceivably will
have to put out more than" $200M for a stadium and then come
up with an expansion fee (L.A. TIMES, 3/25). Davis told USA
TODAY's Gordon Forbes that the NFL's Finance Committee
"forced the Raiders to abandon" the L.A. market and move to
Oakland in '95. Davis said that while he was in talks with
Hollywood Park, the league mandated that the Raiders share
the facility with a second team. Davis: "They drove me out.
They're going to have to adjudicate that and adjudicate that
there is an offset." Davis claims the NFL owes him $25M in
an "offset" fee to move to Oakland. Asked who would move
into the L.A. market, Davis said, "I don't know who it will
be. I don't know whether we'll be the team or not" (USA
TODAY, 3/25). CNBC's Bill Griffeth reported that Michael
Ovitz bought a stake in a "supermall" in Columbus, OH, and
will "be in charge of designing the mall's sports and
entertainment complex." Griffeth: "Ovitz may also have
bigger plans up his sleeve, with a proposal to the NFL to
build a football coliseum and shopping mall outside of Los
Angeles at Hollywood Park" ("The Edge," CNBC, 3/24).
