NHL SAYS NO REGULAR-SEASON GAMES IN JAPAN IN '99

          NHL Senior VP/COO Steve Solomon said on Saturday that
     the NHL would not return to Japan next season with its
     opening game format, according to George Johnson of the
     CALGARY SUN.  Solomon: "The year 2000 would be the earliest
     we'd come back."  Solomon "instead said European venues were
     being considered for pre-season dates," but no regular-
     season games would be played out of North America in '99. 
     He added that the 2,000 empty seats for the first game of
     the Sharks-Flames doubleheader was not the reason for the
     change.  Solomon: "We raised ticket prices in the lower bowl
     from last year's games, but at the time, the Japanese
     economy wasn't the same as now" (CALGARY SUN, 10/11).  NHL
     VP/PR Arthur Pincus said despite the lack of a sell-out, the
     league's int'l foray was a success, largely due to the
     grass-roots initiatives: "We're seeing other encouraging
     things (about their int'l foray) like the participation in
     the street hockey clinics" (USA TODAY, 10/12).