In Montreal, Jack Todd writes that by selling his stake
in the Expos to Majority Owner Jeffrey Loria, Stephen
Bronfman "has sensibly declined to come to the rescue" of
the team. Todd speculates that Loria "intends" to move the
team: "If Loria doesn't have a back-door plan, why would he
have gone out of his way to alienate the entire city of
Montreal?" (Montreal GAZETTE, 6/27)....In Toronto, Jim Hunt
cites sources saying that the Blue Jays "will be sold within
a month" to cable-TV exec Ted Rogers. Outgoing Sun Media
Corp. CEO Paul Godfrey will be President of the team
(TORONTO SUN, 6/27)....USA TODAY's Chris Jenkins examines
the MLB Giants' Web-based ticket exchange program for
charter seat holders and writes, "If this smells like team-
sanctioned ticket scalping, people using the site don't seem
to mind." The program was launched in early June "with
little fanfare," but the number of transactions has
increased from 500 after the first weekend to 2,500 through
the team's most recent homestand. The team charges a 10%
fee to the buyer and seller on each transaction (USA TODAY,
6/27)....In N.Y., Celona & Connor write that over 50,000
tickets have been sold for Friday's Braves-Mets game, which
marks Braves P John Rocker's first visit to N.Y. since
making disparaging remarks about the city in SI last
December. Ticket sales for each of the other three games
"are hovering between" 35,000-40,000 (N.Y. POST, 6/27).
...ESPN's Peter Gammons, on the Yankees eyeing Cubs OF Sammy
Sosa: "The MSG [TV] deal is up, [Yankees Owner George
Steinbrenner] is talking about that cable network with the
Nets and Devils. Who better than to put on there for
entertainment than Sammy Sosa?" ("SportsCenter," 6/26).
SOL HOT: In Ft. Lauderdale, Sharon Robb writes that Sol
merchandise "is outselling Heat merchandise two-to-one" at
AmericanAirlines Arena and at the Heat Store at Bayside.
The "biggest sellers" are the jersey of G Debbie Black and
inaugural season t-shirts (SUN-SENTINEL, 6/27).