Bucs Owner Malcolm Glazer said at least five times in
his interview with the media at the NFL owners meetings in
Dallas yesterday that the Browns "would go to the highest
bidder," according to Terry Pluto of the AKRON BEACON
JOURNAL. He also said the team was "worth at least" $1B.
Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones said the Vikings "were recently
sold for $300 million. ... The Browns also will receive $1
billion in the next 10 years. You do the math." Glazer, on
taking local ownership and minority ownership into account:
"I don't think that has anything to do with it. It has to
do with the highest bid." Browns bidder Howard Milstein,
upon hearing Glazer's comments: "A billion dollars? Well,
Malcolm has dropped his price a bit. At the last NFL
meetings, he wanted $1.5 billion for the team" (AKRON BEACON
JOURNAL, 7/28). In Cleveland, Grossi & Lubinger report that
in addition to varying opinions on the price of the Browns,
NFL owners, who created a "managed bid process," now "don't
agree on what the process entails next." The owners will
discuss the Browns today (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 7/28).
Patriots Owner Bob Kraft, on the managed bidding: "This will
be a neutral process so that no one gets an edge because
they know other people in the league" (USA TODAY, 7/28).
WERE OWNERS REIGNING POLICY IN? In Akron, Terry Pluto
hears "that several NFL owners (and league officials) were
not happy with Carmen Policy and Al Lerner acting as if they
will be the next owners of the Browns." Pluto reports that
several owners were said to be "very angry" when Policy
said, "we have a 50-50 chance of getting the team" -- and
that is why Jones and Glazer "went to great lengths to
insist it is a wide-open field." Pluto writes that Ravens
Owner Art Modell and 49ers co-Owner Eddie DeBartolo will
vote against the Lerner-Policy bid, and that Raiders Owner
Al Davis and Bengals President Mike Brown "don't seem ready
to jump on the bandwagon" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 7/28).
MJ TO TEAM WITH MURDOUGH? Grossi & Lubinger report that
bidder Thomas Murdough confirmed that he has been conducting
talks with reps of Michael Jordan about the Bulls G "joining
his ownership group." Murdough said Jordan won't make a
decision until he resolves his NBA playing status "sometime
in September," which "posed a problem" because the NFL hopes
to select an owner by mid-September (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER,
7/28). Murdough disputed a report that Jordan had already
joined his group (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 7/28).
MCCOMBS APPROVED: The Vikings sale "for all intents and
purposes ended Monday when the NFL's finance committee voted
unanimously to recommend" Red McCombs' $206M purchase of the
team, according to Don Banks of the Minneapolis STAR
TRIBUNE. A full vote of NFL owners will take place this
morning (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/28). McCombs and his
partner, Gary Woods, "are expected to meet within a couple
of weeks with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission"
regarding the team's lease (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 7/28).
