LEAGUE NOTES

          NFL BLOOMBERG NEWS' Curtis Eichelberger profiled NFL
     Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and wrote that entering his 10th
     year as commissioner, Tagliabue "is positioning the NFL to
     own or promote everything in the world related to football,"
     but "his challenge is to convince the 31 team owners to
     remain united, rather than compete for a bigger share of
     their current market."  Tagliabue: "Who's got the best Coke
     deal, who's got the Pepsi deal, if people start getting
     concerned with that, guess what?  You will start heading in
     the wrong direction" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 10/14)....The Browns'
     expansion draft, February 9 at the Canton Civic Center, will
     be free and open to the public (PLAIN DEALER, 10/21).  
          MLB: In N.Y., Bill Madden writes that no MLB team with
     a player making $10M or more per season made the ALCS or
     NLCS.  Yankees Dir of Major League Scouting Gene Michael
     noted that neither the White Sox (Albert Belle), Giants
     (Barry Bonds), Cubs (Sammy Sosa) nor Red Sox (Pedro
     Martinez) made it to MLB's final four: "It's interesting ...
     That'll probably change next year -- the Braves' pitchers'
     contracts all start to kick in next year -- but for now,
     what does that tell you?" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/21).