NFL: Browns Owner Al Lerner will become a member of the
NFL's Finance Committee, according to Patrick McManamon of
the AKRON BEACON JOURNAL. For Lerner, who once said he
would remain in the background, it's a "significant morph."
Browns President Carmen Policy: "I constantly paraded his
talents in the area of finance and business. What they're
looking for is a member partner who is going to come in and
help them run the business of the NFL" (AKRON BEACON
JOURNAL, 5/23)....Agent Leigh Steinberg, in an ESPN.com chat
about Saints RB Ricky Williams' contract: "To accept a
contract with minimum salaries is extremely unusual. And to
create a structure which requires the player to be the best
running back in the history of the NFL in order to achieve
higher levels of compensation is unrealistic" (ESPN.com,
5/21)....In Atlanta, Len Pasquarelli: "In signing the seven-
year contract, Williams became a hero to owners and a bona
fide member of the proletariat." Agent Hadley Engelhard:
"The truth is, it's a terrible deal. As the fifth player
taken in the draft, [Williams] is entitled to the fifth-best
contract. For him to collect all this money he's talked
about, though, is unrealistic" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 5/23).
NOTES: NBC & USA tennis analyst John McEnroe, asked
whether he should be broadcasting more women's tennis:
"Sometimes I think, should I be more involved in the women's
game? The fact that I'm even thinking about it is
incredible. In the [TV] ratings, the women have outdrawn
the men at the last two U.S. Opens and Wimbledon. Certainly
in terms of personalities, there's no comparison" (USA
TODAY, 5/24). In St. Pete, Darrell Fry wrote the "men's
game no longer is the main act. The women, who get higher
TV ratings and more media attention, are more popular." But
ATP Media Services Dir Joe Lynch told Fry, "People can say
tennis is struggling, but then they see a $1.2 billion deal
[with ISL], and then they say, `Maybe it's not struggling'"
(ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 5/23)....In Boston, Nick Cafardo
wrote that the start-up International Football Federation is
looking to place a franchise in Boston, but he wonders where
an IFF team is "going to play home games?" The IFF
"supposedly has other commitments" from N.Y., Fort
Lauderdale, Orlando, Orange County (CA), Toronto, Detroit,
Cincinnati, Denver, and Chicago (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/23).