RAIDERS SUIT PROCEEDS: L.A. County Superior Court Judge
Richard Hubbell issued a ruling allowing three claims by the
Raiders against the NFL to go forward, including the team's
contention that the league owes it money for losing "the Los
Angeles market." However, Hubbell "dismissed portions" of
the team's contention "that they still own the Los Angeles
market." In the ruling, Hubbell found that the team's
previous win in an anti-trust case against the NFL didn't
give the team ownership of the L.A. market, but instead
stated that the "NFL as a whole owned the right to expand
into the Los Angeles area" (L.A. TIMES, 9/8).
NFL NOTES: In Louisville, Lesley Stedman wrote on the
Colts increased marketing in the Louisville area. Colts
Senior VP/Sales & Marketing Ray Compton: "We're averaging
6,000 group tickets a game and buyers from the Southern
Indiana-Louisville area make up a pretty good chunk of
that." Compton added that the Louisville market "is a key"
for future ticket sales: "We started looking into Louisville
about three years ago. ... You can reach over 1 million
people in the market" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 9/10).
...The Bengals drew 64,006 for their inaugural game at Paul
Brown Stadium, setting a Cincinnati sports record crowd
(CINCINNATI POST, 9/11). Meanwhile, the team is changing
their club policy to allow children 2 years old and younger
free admission "if they can sit on their parents' laps
during games." City Council member Paul Booth said that he
"received several complaints from parents about having to
pay $35 to take their toddlers to the game." Booth said
that 18 of 31 NFL teams don't charge admission for kids"
(CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 9/9). The Bengals are donating their
old practice facility to the city. The Cincinnati Rec.
Commission plans to open the Spinney Field facility this
fall to youth football leagues" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 9/9).
..Last night's Cowboys-Cardinals game (att. 66,009), marked
the first non-sellout of a Cowboys-Cardinals game at Sun
Devil Stadium in ten years (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 9/11).
ROYALS BREAK RECORD AT GATE: In K.C., Steve Rock writes
the Royals have topped last year's season attendance total.
With 11 more home games remaining, the team has drawn
1,515,074 fans, compared to the 1,506,068 fans the team drew
for the entire '99 season. Before the season, the team
projected 1.6 million in attendance. It is on pace to draw
more than 1.7 million fans this year (K.C. STAR, 9/9).
