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Leagues and Governing Bodies

WNBA SIGNS THREE MORE ALL-AMERICANS; DRAFT TO BE HELD TODAY

          The WNBA signed '97-98 Kodak All-America selections
     Kristin Folkl of Stanford, Ticha Penicheiro of Old Dominion
     and Nykesha Sales of UConn.  To date, the league has signed
     44 college seniors to contracts for the '98 season.  The
     WNBA draft will be held via conference call today (WNBA).
          SPIN CITY: WNBA President Val Ackerman called it "a
     great day for us.  There's no other way to put it.  To have
     players of this caliber deciding to be associated with the
     league -- in effect, it's solidifying our foundation."  ABL
     CEO Gary Cavalli: "We've had better days, but we got through
     it.  We're disappointed but certainly not devastated or
     embarrassed."  Cavalli said he hopes to have a new TV
     contract wrapped up "in the next 30 says," a move he hopes
     might end talk of Tuesday being "a death knell" for the
     league (Riley & Berlet, HARTFORD COURANT, 4/29).
          EXPOSURE, SUMMER SUMMER: In Hartford, Jeff Jacobs
     writes all three players "kept returning to one word. 
     Exposure" (HARTFORD COURANT, 4/29).  The players also "cited
     the WNBA's summer season as a factor in their decision." 
     Sales and Folkl signed three-year deals (USA TODAY, 4/29). 
     Neither Sales nor Folkl will play this summer because of
     injuries.  Ackerman said they would be on the league payroll
     and do promo work during the season (N.Y. TIMES, 4/29). 
     Penicheiro: "When I signed today, I knew that it was more
     than basketball in that contract that I signed.  When I look
     at my decision, the NBA is known all over the world and that
     could open doors for me later on in life" (Athelia Knight,
     WASHINGTON POST, 4/29).  Cavalli, on Sales' decision: "We
     got a good indication early on that she was leaning the
     other way.  We made what I thought was a very generous offer
     for three years that would have put her in the top echelon
     of ABL salaries" (HARTFORD COURANT, 4/29).

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