The Gaston family increased its stake in the Celtics in
February by paying "more than" $181,000 for 18,500
additional shares, according to an SEC filing cited by Neil
Downing of the PROVIDENCE JOURNAL. The Gaston family,
through its publicly traded Castle Creek partnership, now
owns about 63% of the Celtics (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 3/19).
NOTES: The Packers increased ticket prices by 12-16.7%
for the 2000 season, their second increase in two years.
The team is also "restructuring" the leases on its luxury
boxes, "with all of them scheduled to come due in 2001"
(GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 3/18)....In Cleveland, Roger Brown
wrote that the IHL Lumberjacks' search for potential buyers
is "sluggish" because of the $10M price tag sought by team
Owner Larry Gordon. An "early front-runner" is a group led
by local land developer John Ferchill, although Cavs Owner
Gordon Gund has the right to match any winning offer for the
team (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 3/19)....In Ft. Worth, Dwain
Price wrote that Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban "is in the
process of providing" all of the team's players and coaches
with laptop computers. Cuban has also put in a $43M bid for
a team plane. The Mavs currently lease a plane from NBA Air,
but have no control over the food that is served, which has
made some players "unhappy." Cuban: "I don't care if you're
21 or 41, nutrition is important" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM,
3/19)....In Miami, Jason Cole examined the marketability of
the Dolphins without Dan Marino and wrote that "they need to
win" to "maintain" strong merchandise sales and the team's
numerous TV network appearances. But NFL Senior
VP/Broadcasting & Network TV Dennis Lewin said, "We're not
going to factor it in that the Dolphins have lost Dan Marino
and Jimmy Johnson" (MIAMI HERALD, 3/19)....In NJ, Bob
Klapisch reported that Mets employees "have been
unilaterally denied" their annual 2-3% raises, as team co-
Owner Fred Wilpon "has decided to reduce overhead at the
expense of" the team's secretaries, telephone operators and
other office workers (Bergen RECORD, 3/19).
