A U.S. District Court judge set a September 18 trial date for the lawsuit brought by ten MLS players that challenges MLS' "single-entity structure." Among the group's complaints: MLS "controls group licensing rights in merchandising, limiting players' earning ability"; and "players who are free agents are limited from negotiating with teams within the league" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/25). NOTES: In N.Y., Mike Wise notes that "not a single marquee player" was swapped by yesterday's NBA trade deadline and writes that "concerns" over the league's new luxury tax, which will be implemented during the 2001-02 season, "only added to the conservative approach." The tax "puts a penalty on teams with higher payrolls. The formula, in some cases, can lead to teams with high payrolls paying into an escrow fund" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/25)....In K.C., Joe Posnanski writes that "every night, the NFL is the butt of jokes" by David Letterman and Jay Leno regarding the image of the league in the aftermath of recent murder charges against Ravens LB Ray Lewis. Chiefs Owner Lamar Hunt said, "We can't have this kind of thing. We want to be able to focus on football. ... I can't recall anything quite like what has been happening off the field lately. We must find a way to stop it" (K.C. STAR, 2/25)....NPSL Commissioner Steve Paxos is profiled by the EDMONTON SUN's Gerry Prince. Paxos, on the state of the league: "Being compared to other leagues is not fair to us at all. We've done as good a job as we can to stay stable, not have any teams fold and continue to grow. ... We seem to be stabilizing between 12 and 14 teams" (EDMONTON SUN, 2/25)....In Chicago, Philip Hersh reports that Track and Field Association Founder Brian Vandenberg said that the rollout of the circuit will now be "postponed until 2001." Vandenberg: "It all comes down to dollars and cents. Whether the public or the media have any faith that it will be renewed, I can't control. It has to be operated intelligently" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/25).
