NFL: An L.A. TIMES editorial states that while the NFL
"wants a big show of public support and new investment" from
the city for an expansion team, a "significant investment
has already been made in the Coliseum area." From the
editorial: "For their part, NFL owners and officials ought
to have a strong presence here ... demonstrating their own
commitment" (L.A. TIMES, 3/19)....In New Orleans, John
DeShazier on expansion and noted a "bigger NFL won't be a
better NFL, which is a fact that already is on display."
DeShazier: "Owners see the dollar signs. It's what
successful businessmen understand more clearly than
anything, and you can't fault them for that" (New Orleans
TIMES-PICAYUNE, 3/18)....In Orange County, Steve Bisheff
wrote that should L.A. get an expansion team, J.K. McKay
would "be the likely" GM of the franchise (O.C. REGISTER,
3/19)....The average NFL salary hit "almost" $1M in '98,
with an average increase of 36% for starters, from $1.229M
to $1.667M. The average salary of $966,000 for all players
was a 37% increase from '97 (USA TODAY, 3/19).
ANOTHER INDOOR WAR: Indoor Football League Commissioner
Kellen Winslow helped the Dayton Skyhawks "drum up interest"
for their inaugural 12-game season, which begins April 2.
Winslow, on the eight-team IFL: "There's a market for it.
... Eventually, we can manage 20 teams and still have a
great product. They've really thought this thing through,
right down to the last nickel" (DAYTON DAILY NEWS, 3/17).
MORE NOTES: A WALL STREET JOURNAL editorial gives kudos
to Collegiate Professional Basketball League President &
Founder Paul McMann, and states that the "virtue of Mr.
McMann's league is that it gives a piece of the "big bucks
involved" in college athletics "to the players who created
it, along with an academic plan more suited to reality."
The CPBL will announce a sponsorship deal Monday with
Acunet.Net, which joins Lycos as a team sponsor (WALL STREET
JOURNAL, 3/19)....SI's Kostya Kennedy reports on the
"misguided" effort of Oilers GM Glen Sather to expand the
playoffs from 16 to 20 teams. Sather's feels that "added
berths might help financially disadvantaged Canadian teams
by increasing their chances of picking up the additional
revenue generated by home playoff dates." Kennedy writes,
"Forget it. Leave the playoffs as they are" (SI, 3/22).
