GOODMAN MEETS WITH OWNER: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman
said Thursday that he met with an NBA team owner last week
"who may be interested in relocating a team to Las Vegas."
Goodman "would not identify the NBA owner but said it was a
different owner than the unidentified owner he was scheduled
to meet with in February" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 5/19).
In Boston, Will McDonough reported that the Bruins and
Celtics will not raise ticket prices for next season. But
the "one notable exception" is the approximately 50 people
holding first-row seats for the Celtics will have their
"price per seat raised by $50 a game, for a total of $250
for a single seat" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/20)....In Akron, Sheldon
Ocker writes, "If you've been to Jacobs Field this year,
you've probably noticed rows and rows of vacant seats in the
upper deck of far right field." While Indians VP/Marketing
& Communications Jeff Overton won't reveal the "rate of no-
shows," Ocker writes it's "probably about" 5%. Overton, on
the impact of the no-shows: "There is a food, beverage and
novelty impact. But I would suggest that's the lesser
issue. As a marketing person, I look at the no-shows as an
image problem" (AKRON BEACON-JOURNAL, 5/22)....In DC, Steven
Herbert wrote that the 40,303 spectators in attendance for
Saturday's United-Galaxy match at the L.A. Coliseum were
"primarily drawn" by Luis Hernandez, the Mexican soccer star
who made his debut for the Galaxy Saturday (WASHINGTON POST,
5/21). In L.A., Paul Gutierrez wrote Hernandez "hopes to
take soccer mainstream" in L.A. "in the same manner" Wayne
Gretzky made the Kings "fashionable in Hollywood" (L.A.
TIMES, 5/21)....Flames players "bought 46 season tickets --
two for each of 23 minor hockey teams" in the Calgary area,
as part of the team's season-ticket drive. The Flames have
sold 10,475 tickets, "only 3,647 short of the 14,000 ticket
mark that'll ensure the team stays in Calgary" (CALGARY SUN,
5/21)....Wayne Gretzky, on possibly joining the investment
group of prospective Coyotes Owner Steve Ellman, who must
make a $10M initial deposit to current Owner Richard Burke
by Friday: "The decision I have to make and the things Steve
has to do with his deadlines aren't tied together. I don't
think I'll make a decision for a few weeks -- there are a
lot of things to consider" (AP, 5/21)....In Vancouver, Iain
MacIntyre profiled new Orca Bay/Canucks COO Dave Cobb under
the headline, "The Saviour." MacIntyre: "The NHL will
expire in Vancouver one way or another unless the Canucks'
financial picture improves drastically under Cobb." Cobb is
budgeting for a 20% increase in sponsorship fees and has
applied to the Canadian Radio-TV & Telecom Commission for
the right to broadcast some games on PPV starting in late
2001 (VANCOUVER SUN, 5/20)....L.A. Times NBA reporter Mark
Heisler, on the Clippers: "The Clippers are the most
hopeless organization in sports, the most hopeless
organization I've ever seen. They are failure incarnate"
("NBA Showtime," NBC, 5/21).
