NHL: A war of words continues between the Blackhawks
and Capitals after Saturday night's fight involving Capitals
GM George McPhee and members of the Blackhawks. Blackhawks
President Bill Wirtz broke a "league-imposed gag rule" and
said, "There is a code of conduct. You just don't do things
like this. You don't sucker-punch people. ... If these
gentlemen [McPhee and Caps coach Ron Wilson] want to come to
Chicago and go in a room and turn the lights out, I'd be
only happy to see them" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/28)....Wayne
Gretzky, on possible team ownership: "I've had five or six
teams call me. They've all been extremely positive about
having me involved with their teams in some capacity. One
team offered me 35% ownership, but I just thought that my
freedom is too valuable right now" (TORONTO SUN, 9/28).
NFL: A source within the CT state government confirmed
that CT Gov. John Rowland's office hired a private
investigator to find out whether the Patriots "went behind
[CT's] back to negotiate" a stadium deal with MA. A suit
filed by the state of CT against the team or the NFL is
still a possibility (HARTFORD COURANT, 9/28)....In N.Y.,
Richard Sandomir reports that the NFL is possibly leaving
itself open to antitrust violations if it refuses to
consider the BuytheJets.com bid. Sandomir: "The call here
is for the N.F.L. to open the process to BuytheJets.com
after performing a preliminary check on the credibility of
the founders" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/28)....A ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
editorial criticizes the Bucs for suing three fans who filed
a class-action lawsuit about their seat assignments at
Raymond James Stadium. The Bucs claimed the fans defamed
the team: "For a community that gave a quarter-billion-
dollar stadium to the team's petulant owner, the Bucs'
latest move amounts to a flipped finger from the luxury box
of Malcolm Glazer" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 9/28).
JOHNSON ON SPORTS: BET Chair Robert Johnson, on
potential team ownership: "The sports business is an
entertainment business. It meshes very well with BET. More
importantly sports is a good business if you get the right
team at the right price" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 9/27).
NOTES: Phillies GM Ed Wade said he has been given a
"significant" increase in the team's payroll by the team's
ownership board. The payroll is expected to jump from $28M
this season to around $45M (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS,
9/27)....ESPN's David Aldridge: "The timing of Bill Laurie's
purchase of the Vancouver Grizzlies last week was not
impeccable. The announcement of the sale came on the same
day that final payments were due on season ticket plans from
Vancouver fans" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 9/27).
VARIETY'S SPECIAL REPORT ON SPORTS: VARIETY examined
media conglomerates' interests in team ownership, and John
Dempsey wrote, "While sports success has often eluded giants
like Disney and Fox, they say they're in it for the long
term. ... But so far, it's the smaller players who have
chalked up the biggest scores in the sports-showbiz synergy.
The key thinking is 'local.'" Dempsey noted the success of
Adelphia in NY, Comcast in Philadelphia, Cablevision in NY
and Time Warner/TBS in Atlanta (VARIETY, 9/20 issue).
