The Suns announced a ticket increase for the '98-99
     season, according to Kent Somers of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. 
     Some seats will cost 18-20% more, and prices will increase
     an average of 13%.  Suns President & CEO Jerry Colangelo:
     "This is not about greed, not about the bottom line.  This
     is about trying to remain competitive."  Most of the seats
     in the lower level of America West Arena are increasing in
     price from $7 to $9.  Upper-level seats are increasing $2 to
     $3 per ticket.  Colangelo said that to compete, the Suns
     "have to increase" their gate receipts.  The Suns were 10th
     in the league in gate receipts last year, averaging a little
     more than $600,000 a game.  The Knicks were first, at $1.2M. 
     Colangelo said that the ticket hike "should boost the Suns
     to about eighth, at $720,000" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 3/7).
          

          New Isles Owner Steven Gluckstern was on the concourse
     during the Isles-Avalanche game Saturday exchanging
     Islanders items with the Fisherman logo for a free T-shirt. 
     More than 1,295 Islanders fans exchanged items (Jim Benton,
     ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 3/8)....The Stars have increased their
     season-ticket base from 6,500 in '95-'96, to 11,000 this
     season (STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/7)....NBC's Jim Gray interviewed
     Magic Johnson during the Pistons-Lakers game Sunday. 
     Johnson, asked why he is selling his stake in the Lakers:
     "Because I am managing athletes" ("NBA on NBC," 3/8).
     ...49ers co-Owner Eddie DeBartolo's brother-in-law, John
     York II, disputed a S.F. Chronicle report that Eddie
     DeBartolo "was trying to buy his sister's share of the
     team."  York: "The facts are not right" (Mult., 3/8).

          News Corp. Chair Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy the
     Dodgers was examined in a front-page feature by Richard
     Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES.  Sandomir wrote that "absent a
     late bout of nerves," MLB will by March 19 formally approve
     the sale to News Corp., an "outfit run by an aggressive,
     continent-hopping dealmaker with no sentimental or historic
     attachment to the country's most tradition-bound sport."  
          A CAVEAT OVER REGIONAL DEALS: Murdoch pays "at least"
     $100M a year for the local cable rights to 22 MLB clubs, and
     it is News Corp.'s consolidation of "a once balkanized
     universe of regional sports networks into the Fox Sports
     Net" that "worries" some MLB people.  Murdoch's "substantial
     investment" in MLB "is seen either as a vote of confidence
     in the sport's recovery from labor strife or worrisome
     leverage over his future partners in ownership."  Padres
     President Larry Lucchino said that Fox Sports'
     "disproportionate influence on two dozen teams through its
     TV deals creates an opportunity to manipulate the
     arrangement for political purposes.  Fox can say, 'If you
     don't vote for X, you'll have trouble on your TV deal.'" 
     The Padres and other clubs also "worry" that Fox "will have
     access to their financial statements and use that knowledge
     at future television rights negotiations.  Or, knowing how
     important local rights payments are, teams are concerned
     that Fox can influence the signing of free agents through
     well-timed extensions of cable rights deals."  Fox/Liberty
     Exec VP Jim Martin: "The teams have the business we need and
     can get rid of us for another competitor.  If we try to
     influence anybody's votes, the teams ... can tell us to go
     to hell."  Disney's Michael Eisner, on Murdoch: "I can't
     judge whether he would be a good or a bad owner.  But I
     don't think he would not follow the rules" (N.Y. TIMES,3/6).

          Through the Devil Rays' first six home games against
     MLB opponents, before Saturday's first sellout, the team had
     drawn an average of 4,393 to Al Lang Stadium, about three-
     fourths of the 6,100-seat capacity and seventh among 20 FL-
     based MLB clubs, according to Marc Topkin of the ST. PETE
     TIMES.  However, because the Rays conduct spring training in
     their hometown, Managing General Partner Vince Naimoli said,
     "I'm not sure what to make of it."  One line of thinking is
     that the Rays "are overexposed in the Tampa Bay market, that
     they are tapping out the same audience by selling regular-
     season tickets, tons of new merchandise and spring training
     tickets."  Naimoli: "I'm sure there's something to what
     you're saying.  If we trained somewhere else, we could
     probably sell more tickets.  But there are a lot of
     intangible advantages to training here.  I think there are
     far more pluses than negatives" (ST. PETE TIMES, 3/8).      

          A "rumor out of Edmonton" was that the local group
     trying to buy the NHL Oilers were set to receive $10M from
     Wayne Gretzky, according to the N.Y. DAILY NEWS.  NHL
     Commissioner Gary Bettman: "I haven't heard that.  And until
     something like that is confirmed for me, I won't even
     comment on it" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/8).  In Edmonton,
     MacDonald & Simons report that the local group has until
     Friday "to table an offer to buy the team" for C$102M, or
     the team could be sold to Rockets Owner Les Alexander. 
     Under NHL rules, any new buyer can borrow no more than half
     the purchase price of the team, meaning the local Edmonton
     group must raise C$51M by Friday (EDM. JOURNAL, 3/9).  In
     Houston, Aeros Owner and prospective Oilers suitor, Chuck
     Watson, was told Friday that the Edmonton group had secured
     C$35M in financing from a "consortium of Canadian banks." 
     Watson: "I was told they have a deal in place with Canadian
     banks."  Neil Hohlfeld reported that Watson still could
     provide the group with "as much as" $5M for operating
     expenses, a gesture that could keep him "in line" for an NHL
     team when an arena is built in Houston (HOUSTON CHRONICLE,
     3/7).  In other news, Molson's Alberta-wide promotion, where
     it gives C$1 from each case of beer sold to the Oilers
     Forever Fund, may reach C$300,000 (EDMONTON SUN, 3/8).  

          Maple Leaf Gardens [MLG] might find that the NBA's
     approval of the Raptors sale "is not a slam dunk," according
     to David Shoalts of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL.  Shoalts:
     "That's because the NBA governors have some questions, a
     number of which have been raised by one lawsuit in the wake
     of the sale and by another that is expected to be filed this
     week."  The first lawsuit was filed by former Raptors Owner
     John Bitove and "concerns the concession rights at the Air
     Canada Centre."  The second lawsuit, "expected to be filed
     this week in Toronto by former Gardens shareholder Harry
     Ornest," will raise "a number of issues," including plans to
     make a public offering of shares in MLG.  MLG Minority
     shareholder Larry Tannenbaum said that MLG doesn't expect
     the sale to be rejected by the NBA, nor has the company
     considered going public at this point (GLOBE & MAIL, 3/9).