FACILITY NOTES

          Astros Owner Drayton McLane said that Enron Field
     "would indeed be ready" for the team's March 30 exhibition
     game against the Yankees, and that a "final construction
     contract had been inked for" $248.2M (HOUSTON CHRONICLE,
     1/19)....In FL, a Marlins team official said that the team
     hopes to announce a plan in two to three weeks to pay for a
     $400M stadium to be ready by 2003.  The stadium would be
     paid for with tourist taxes that would require approval from
     the State Legislature in a 60-day session that starts March
     7 (PALM BEACH POST, 1/20)....In Cincinnati, Hamilton County
     (OH) commissioners yesterday "signed a lease amendment" for
     the new Reds ballpark "that will raise the cost to county
     taxpayers" and "keep the team in town" for five additional
     years.  The "maximum amount" the county will spend on the
     ballpark, now set "in stone" at $280M, was originally
     estimated at $235M.  The team added a $30M "contribution,
     and there will be an as-yet-undetermined" contribution from
     the state (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 1/20).