Second bids from Browns ownership candidates "will be
made at the end of the week," according to Tony Grossi of
the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. The bids "then will trigger the
final stages of the process to pick the Browns owner at a
league meeting" September 8. Sources, including NFL
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, "said the bids alone would not
reduce the field from seven candidates." Tagliabue: "If you
have a big spread top to bottom, then you'll want to go back
and talk to everybody to make sure their second bid is where
they want to go" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 8/22).
ZIP IT: In Cleveland, Grossi also reported that "there
wasn't much talk about a billion-dollar franchise fee at NFL
meetings in Atlanta last week ... because some owners stood
up and told" Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones and Bucs Owner
Malcolm Glazer "that their unwarranted speculation on the
Browns franchise fee was hurting the league." One owner
said that the billion-dollar talk "might have scared away a
few qualified candidates" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 8/23).
FROM THE PRESENTATIONS: In his presentation, owners
asked Al Lerner how he "would handle the PR backlash if he
bought the Browns"....Howard Milstein told owners that he
plans to start a $10M Browns Foundation, if he gets the
team, to help Cleveland youth sports programs....Thomas
Murdough "surprised owners by revealing the generalities of
a plan to use the Internet to enhance the value of each NFL
franchise. Murdough was set to announce his plan to the
media, but the NFL told him to hold off. The league has
people investigating all facets of the Internet to produce
more revenue" (Tony Grossi, Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 8/23).
JACOBS' BID: In Boston, Nick Cafardo reports that while
Delaware North Chair Jeremy Jacobs' Browns presentation "was
strong, the league reportedly is looking for a more fan-
friendly owner who is not as concerned with the bottom line"
(BOSTON GLOBE, 8/24). In Cleveland, Grossi reported that
some owners "wondered whether Jacobs [was] going through
this process merely to obtain secret NFL information to help
him drum up more business for his concessionaire
Sportservice Corp." It "also has been widely speculated
that Jacobs is a buyer-in-waiting" for the Bills, and that
"he was essentially acquainting himself with the NFL process
to prepare for that eventuality" (PLAIN DEALER, 8/23).
