In Orlando, Jerry Greene reports that while in Orlando
last week for ArenaBowl XIV, the AFL "came close to" to a
deal that will have the NFL buy between 25-49% of the league
(see THE DAILY, 2/8/99), plus possibly another 10-15% sold
to a sports marketing firm (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/23)....In
Newark, Colin Stephenson writes that MetroStars G Mike
Ammann -- who suffered three broken ribs, a punctured lung,
and cuts on his face as the result of his "run-in" with
Mutiny F Mamadou Diallo last week (see THE DAILY, 8/22) --
last night "decried" MLS' decision "not to punish" Diallo
for "failing to avoid the collision that likely ended"
Ammann's season. Ammann, on MLS' decision: "It's pretty
baffling to me." MLS Exec VP Ivan Gazidis said that the
league's disciplinary committee examined videotape of the
incident "exhaustively" and decided Diallo "did not
deliberately try to injure" Ammann (Newark STAR-LEDGER,
8/23)....MLB drew 634,678 fans for 15 games last Saturday,
an average of 42,312, and the second-highest single-day
average in history (MLB)....CART interim CEO Bobby Rahal
said, "I've got five-to-six months to get everything sorted
out so that whoever takes over on a permanent basis, that
the work's been done. ... I'm not going to even worry what
happens come January 1. I'm worried what's happening this
week and next week and the week after that because ... We
don't have the luxury of time in my view, and we are
committed to taking the steps that are going to allow this
sport to go forward come 2001" (ESPN2, 8/22).
