FRANCHISE NOTES

          In DC, Thom Loverro, noting the announced crowd of
     11,413 for last night's Bucks-Wizards game at the MCI Center
     "looked like" 6,500, writes that "it's going to take more
     than [Michael] Jordan standing tall in the owner's box
     watching the dance team to draw people to watch this team"
     (WASHINGTON TIMES, 2/23)....The WA-based soccer team Seattle
     Storm filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Seattle
     claiming that the WNBA Storm "will confuse consumers and
     dilute" the soccer team's name (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER,
     2/21)....In Hartford, Shawn Courchesne reports the $6.5M
     purchase of the Double A New Britain Rock Cats by Majority
     Owners William Dowling and Coleman Levy was approved.  While
     all the investors were not announced, Dowling and Levy said
     that Univ. of CT women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma was
     one of the team's backers (HARTFORD COURANT, 2/23).