NFL FRANCHISE NOTES: CAN COOKE DO IT? VIKES, BIRDS TIX SALES

          TICKET NEWS: The Vikings, who sold "nearly" 11,000 new
     season-tickets this year for a total of 54,000, will "begin
     accepting names to compile a season-ticket waiting list for
     the first time" since '82 (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 12/18).
     ...In Atlanta, Matt Winkeljohn reports "nearly" 90% of the
     Falcons' 29,715 season-ticket holders have reserved "about"
     35,000 playoff tickets, leaving 27,000 playoff tickets to go
     on sale Saturday (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 12/18).
          SKINS SALE UPDATE: In DC, Mark Maske writes that
     although Redskins President John Kent Cooke has "confidently
     told his friends that he has the financial wherewithal to
     match any bid" to buy the team from the estate of his late
     father, Jack Kent Cooke, he has "yet to detail his sources
     of financing to the trustees of the estate and their
     financial advisors" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/18).