FRANCHISE NOTES

          Bulls Coach Phil Jackson, quoted in NEWSWEEK: "I met
     with [Bulls Chair Jerry] Reinsdorf in the last couple of
     days, and he said, 'If you want to come back, I'm offering
     you the opportunity.'  I said, 'No, it's time for me to step
     away and enjoy some different things'" (NEWSWEEK, 6/29).
     ...In Toronto, Grant Kerr reports that the Canucks will name
     NHL Senior VP/Hockey Operations Brian Burke their new GM
     today (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 6/22)....The Mets and Chase
     Manhattan Bank have donated 70,000 tickets to area children,
     10,000 of whom are in foster care.  The tickets have been
     distributed to schools in low-income communities and to
     youth groups in the metro area (N.Y. TIMES, 6/20)...Penguins
     co-Owner Howard Baldwin said he was going to meet with Mario
     Lemieux's agent, Tom Reich, over the weekend in an attempt
     to resolve Lemieux's contract dispute with co-Owner Roger
     Marino (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 6/20).