HOOPS: In IL, Craig DeVrieze cited CBA President Don
Welsh as saying the CBA has three "qualified and interested"
buyers, and "indicated that a deal could be reached in
principle within a matter of days." Meanwhile, Welsh said
that the CBA and NBA "have reached a verbal agreement" that
will "continue to allow" the NBA to call up CBA players this
year. The NBA will pay the CBA $2.5M for a one-year
extension of the "relationship" between the leagues since
'80 (QUAD CITY TIMES, 10/26)....NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ
Granik, on why the Dream Team may be altered in 2004:
"There's been a lot of discussion that one of the problems
that our team and coaching staff face all the time with the
[Dream Team] is that you end up with a lot of All-Stars and
players that want to get their fair share of minutes....I
think we're finding that that might not necessarily be the
best way to run a team to win games" (N.Y. POST, 10/27).
NFL: In S.F., Chip Johnson wrote that as Oakland
unveiled its bid for the 2005 Super Bowl, there "was no
Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. No [S.F.] Mayor Willie Brown. No
representation from either the Oakland Raiders or the [S.F.]
49ers. A Raiders official said the team wasn't invited"
(S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/26)....In Miami, Armando Salguero cites
NFL sources as saying that Oakland will be eliminated from
contention early to host the Super Bowl in 2005. Dolphins
Owner Wayne Huizenga sent NFL owners a case of stone crabs
from Joe's, a Miami restaurant, to "remind them what sort of
opulence is available locally" (MIAMI HERALD, 10/27).
