XFL: XFL CEO Basil DeVito said that as the league
prepares for its 2001 launch, DC "is more likely to be
looked at in our second year rather than the first. ...
We're leaning more toward markets where we'd be the only
football game in town" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/25)....Meanwhile,
in San Jose, Sheldon Spencer writes that the XFL "hopes to
choose between" Spartan Stadium or 3Com Park in S.F. by mid-
June as the home of a team (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 5/25).
NOTES: Oilers BOD Chair Cal Nichols, on the perception
that the team's ownership group is divided: "We have a
horrible image problem. ... I think that the rap on this
group has been totally unfair. The people in this group are
to be applauded for stepping up and donating their money.
... For the most part, this group is unified. There are
always going to be differences in opinion in how best to do
things, but the vast majority are on the same page"
(EDMONTON SUN, 5/25)....TIME's John Bacon profiles the LA
IceGators, which led the ECHL in attendance in each of their
first four seasons, averaging 10,500 fans per game. It is
"an unlikely success that says a lot about the appeal of
minor league hockey and the unique civic character" of
Lafayette, LA. IceGators fan Gary Elliott's "theory" about
why the team draws large crowds: "Invite 10,000 Cajuns
anywhere, serve 'em beer and tell 'em there's gonna be a
fight, and they'll fill the place up" (TIME, 5/29 issue).
