HARTFORD OR BUST? KRAFT MAY SELL PATS IF STADIUM DEAL FAILS

          Patriots Owner Bob Kraft "may consider selling the team
     if his Hartford stadium deal falls apart in coming weeks,"
     according to a source close to the team cited by Tina
     Cassidy of the BOSTON GLOBE.  However, Kraft "has not given
     up hope" that the CT deal "will go through."  In the last
     several days, Kraft "has downplayed" the significance of an
     April 2 deadline by which CT officials must show they can
     clear a stadium site, "saying he has 30 days beyond that
     date to make a final decision."  As Kraft faces the "bleak
     scenario" of CT officials not meeting the relocation
     deadline and possibly having to keep the Patriots in MA, the
     source said he "would rather sell the team than remain" in
     Foxboro.  The source: "If Connecticut can't happen, for
     whatever reason ... that's clearly an option."  Patriots Dir
     of Media Relations Stacey James declined comment.  In other
     news, the Patriots hired Boston political/media strategy
     firm Regan Communications to handle issues relating to the
     stadium, though the firm "was not working on contingency
     plans for a failed Hartford deal" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/24).

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