Patriots VP Community Affairs Don Lowery, on the future
of the Patriots: "The ideal place for the stadium would be
downtown Boston and if Hartford doesn't work out that would
still be very attractive to us" (SPRINGFIELD UNION-NEWS,
3/19)....The Expos have sold only 10,000 tickets for their
April 8 home opener against the Mets. Olympic Stadium
Ticket Office Dir Hubert Richard: "Of course it's lower than
usual. But in the situation we're in now, it's
understandable. We need oxygen. We need good news." The
Expos have sold less than 4,500 season tickets so far, down
from between 5,000 and 6,000 last year. In other news, Expos
Chair Jacques Menard was in N.Y. earlier this week, "where
he was expected to meet" prospective investor Jeffrey Loria
(GLOBE & MAIL, 3/18)....The Browns and Steelers are planning
"Grudge Lunches," where each team will "send a contingent of
team officials and players to the other city and stoke the
flames of the rivalry." Proceeds from the luncheons would
go toward each team's charitable foundations. Browns
President Carmen Policy: "It would be kind of a `Here's
what's happening with the two organizations,' and we'd have
a little fun poking good-natured barbs at each other"
(Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 3/16)....In Orlando, corporate
sponsorships for the AFL Predators have topped $1M for the
first time in team history. The total, which includes over
70 sponsorship deals, now stands at $1.15M, which is a 74%
jump from last year's total of $660,000 (Predators)....In
Buffalo, John Bonfatti took an extensive look at the Bills'
finances, and noted that owner Ralph Wilson's earnings
"should be even better" for '98, as NFL teams started
collecting their share of the league's TV deal that will
average $73M a year for each team (BUFFALO NEWS, 3/18).
