A crowd of 60,021 attended yesterday's D'Backs-Padres
opener at Qualcomm Stadium, marking the tenth largest crowd
in San Diego history and the "second-largest opening day
crowd" (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 4/11)....The Indians announced
that for the "fifth year in a row, all 81 games at Jacobs
Field are sold out before the home season begins." The team
has the "ongoing major-league record of 373 sellouts that
now will continue indefinitely" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL,
4/11)....76ers President Pat Croce, on being approached
about a position with YankeeNets: "I turned them down.
Nothing, to me, is more important. Maybe after we have a
(championship) parade. This is my challenge. No money,
Internet salary ... nothing is more important [than the
76ers]" (CALKINS NEWSPAPERS, 4/10)....The Jazz announced
that for the first time since they moved into the Delta
Center in '91, they "will not raise ticket prices next
season." Jazz VP/Marketing Jay Francis: "[Jazz Owner] Larry
[Miller] has felt -- at least for the present time -- that
ticket prices need to stabilize." The Jazz have sold out
"only 13 of their 39 home games this season" (SALT LAKE
TRIBUNE, 4/11)....In Ft. Worth, Dwain Price profiles
outgoing Mavs Owner Ross Perot Jr., whose reign "will most
likely come to an end today when the NBA Board of Governors
is expected" to approve Mark Cuban as the team's new owner.
Price: "While Perot admittedly made a fortune during his
short tenure ... he said he had mixed emotions about selling
the team." Perot: "The sale of the team happened really a
year or so earlier than anything I was thinking about, but
it's for the best" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 4/11)....In CT,
Bill Cummings reported that ticket sales for the Atlantic
League Bluefish "are strong." Bluefish Owner Mickey Herbert
said that pre-season sales "are already outpacing the first
two seasons, with more than 221,000 tickets sold so far."
Herbert: "We are well above last year" (CT POST, 4/10).
