COMMISH TAGS BELICHICK ON RULING: In N.Y., Gerald
Eskenazi wrote that NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue "ruled"
Friday that former Jets coach Bill Belichick "had breached
his contract" for 2000 and "could not coach another club
without the consent" of the Jets. Eskenazi added that the
decision "was not a complete victory" for the Jets, who
"contended" that Belichick was "bound to them" for the final
three years on his contract (N.Y. TIMES, 1/22). Belichick's
attorney, Jeffrey Kessler: "There's no ruling on anti-trust
claims, no anti-trust claims were presented to the
commissioner, and what's illegal is the directive from the
commissioner banning other teams from talking to him.
That's the illegal act" (ESPN, 1/21). In Boston, Michael
Felger reports that Kessler "will walk into" a Federal Court
in NJ today to seek a temporary restraining order "to free"
Belichick from his contract (BOSTON HERALD, 1/24).
NOTES: BLOOMBERG NEWS reported that the MLB Giants have
added two investors who paid a total of $7.7M to join the
team's ownership group. Investment banker John Scully and
Nancy House each "purchased a small stake." Giants COO
Larry Baer said that the ownership group now has 23
investors (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/22)....The AP reported that
according to management records, the Orioles accrued the
highest "total bill" of $10,643,897 for the three years of
baseball's luxury tax. The Yankees were second at
$9,919,651, followed by the Dodgers at $2,712,672, Red Sox
at $2,205,960 and Indians at $2,065,496. Teams received
their bills for the last year of the tax on January 10 which
are payable January 31 (AP, 1/23).