A NEW BASEBALL LEAGUE SET TO LAUNCH ALONG THE ATLANTIC

          The Atlantic League, an independent baseball league set
     to begin this May in the Northeast, "has persuaded five of
     the six cities on its roster to build new 5,000- to 6,000-
     seat ballparks almost entirely at the public expense,"
     according to Kirk Johnson of the N.Y. TIMES.  A total of
     $110M in public financing has been committed altogether "for
     teams that, with only weeks to go before opening day, still
     exist for the most part on paper."  Baseball "experts say
     that in a market where there is so much major and minor
     league baseball already, the Atlantic League's ambitions are
     testing the limit of baseball both as a recreational drawing
     card and a spur for economic revitalization."  The league,
     roughly the equivalent of Class AA, will have franchises in
     Atlantic City, Newark and Somerset, NJ; Lehigh Valley, PA;
     Bridgeport, CT; and Nashua, NH.  Former Wall Street bond
     trader Frank Boulton is league Chair and has "sought out
     cities" that couldn't get a NAPBL team because of their
     location and those that had public financing available for
     economic development and new stadiums (N.Y. TIMES, 4/10).