NO PROBLEMS WITH YANKEENETS? The SPORTSBUSINESS
JOURNAL's Daniel Kaplan reports that the $175M sale of the
Devils is "on track," with about "two-thirds of the price
being footed by new equity investors." Sources told Kaplan
the deal "was never on unstable ground," while NHL approval
of the six to eight new equity investors took more time than
was expected (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/31 issue).
NOTES: In Houston, John McClain reports that Houston
NFL expansion team Owner Bob McNair wants the league to put
his team in the AFC Central when it is realigned into eight
divisions of four teams each for the 2002 season. In some
proposals so far, Houston has been placed in a new Southern
division with the Titans, Jaguars and Colts. McClain:
"Realignment is shaping up as perhaps the league's most
controversial issue since the merger between the AFL and NFL
in 1970" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/31)....In Baltimore, Schmuck
& Morgan reported on the possibility of two MLB teams in the
Baltimore/Washington, DC, corridor under the header,
"Monopoly Game." MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said that MLB
"still intends to study the impact of a second team in the
market -- and he likely would act in concert with the will
of a majority of owners, not all sympathetic" to Orioles
Owner Peter Angelos. Smith College Economics Professor
Andrew Zimbalist predicts that a competitor in Washington
"would probably pare" the Orioles' value by 10-20%, which
could mean a paper loss of $30-60M for the team's ownership
(Baltimore SUN, 7/30)....Tickets for the Pirates' final
homestand at Three Rivers Stadium went on sale Saturday
morning, and the final game was sold out by noon. Some fans
began waiting in line after the end of Friday night's game
(PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 7/30)....The Flyers have moved up
the start of most of their home games 30 minutes to 7:00pm
ET. Flyers COO Ron Ryan said the change came after the team
conducted an online poll and most voters favored the time
change (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 7/29).
