RIGAS FAMILY SET TO BUY OUT SABRES' MINORITY PARTNERS?

          The Rigas family, owner of PA-based Adelphia     Communications, "has reached a tentative agreement to buy     out minority partners" in the team and will take over total     ownership by March 15, according to Kevin Collison of the     BUFFALO NEWS.  If the deal goes through, it would end     "almost two years of uncertainty" since the Rigas' began     running the Sabres with a "memorandum of understanding" that     was reached when they became the majority owner in March     '98.  The final settlement of the "team ownership question"     is seen as a "necessary step" if development plans for the     city's downtown Inner Harbor are to move forward.  The     completion of the purchase would also "be the final chapter     of a saga" that began in September '93, when Adelphia signed     a five-year contract to broadcast Sabres' games.  Adelphia     CEO & President John Rigas, on the deal: "I think this time     we have it nailed down, and the transfer will occur, and     everybody is on board" (BUFFALO NEWS, 1/24)