It "looks like" Save the Grizzlies campaign organizers
will get a meeting with NBA Commissioner David Stern before
the league's Board of Governors meet next week to approve
the sale of the team to Bill and Nancy Laurie, according to
Gary Mason of the VANCOUVER SUN. Campaign organizers "have
all but given up hope of a meeting with" Bill Laurie, as
officials in Laurie's camp "apparently indicated there would
be little he could add to public comments he's already made
about plans for the team." Sources said that in meeting
with Stern, the Save the Grizzlies team will be "packing
heavy financial clout from a group of wealthy British
Columbians who want to keep the team" in Vancouver. There
are "a number of scenarios beginning to emerge that will be
discussed with Stern." One has "this secret group buying
the debt-laden GM Place from John McCaw and then leasing it
back to the Canucks and Grizzlies at a more attractive rate
than the teams currently pay." Meanwhile, the Grizzlies have
now sold more than 7,000 season tickets (VAN. SUN, 10/21).
