MILSTEIN CLOSE TO APPROVAL, STILL MUST SWAY 3 TO 5 OWNERS

          Prospective Redskins Owner Howard Milstein "apparently
     must win the support of three to five team owners" before
     the NFL reconsiders his $800M purchase of the team and Jack
     Kent Cooke Stadium, according to Maske, Heath & Shapiro of
     the WASHINGTON POST.  Sources familiar with the negotiations
     said the league has scheduled the owners' vote on the sale
     for April 7 in Atlanta, and Milstein "has begun scheduling
     appointments with owners as part of a three-week effort to
     secure the necessary support."  In their effort to win over
     the owners, members of the Milstein-Daniel Snyder group also
     "plan to restructure the financing of the deal to try to
     make it easier to grasp."  Said one owner: "If they work it
     right, they can still get it.  They have to make it (the
     financing plan) so that these guys can really understand it"
     (WASHINGTON POST, 3/19).  Also in DC, Fisher & Snider report
     that NFL sources said an informal poll among the owners
     taken Wednesday showed 13 teams against the sale, 11
     undecided, six in favor and one abstention. The sale needs
     24 votes to be approved.  The six teams that "firmly planned
     to approve the sale" are the Cowboys, Ravens, Patriots,
     Eagles, Buccaneers and Redskins.  Fisher & Snider also
     report that a division between Milstein and Snyder that
     began several weeks ago "intensified during this week's NFL
     meetings in Phoenix," and it "could further complicate the
     troubled deal."  Sources close to Snyder have said that he
     "is taking a hands-off position" while Milstein refinances
     his share of the bid (WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/19).