Oilers Owner Bud Adams is scheduled to fly to Nashville
today for day-long meetings with city Mayor Phil Bredesen, TN Gov
Don Sundquist, and local business leaders about the possibility
of moving his Oilers to Nashville, according to the HOUSTON
CHRONICLE. Following three weeks of groundwork in Nashville by
Oilers VP Mike McClure, Adams' meeting comes after Houston Mayor
Bob Lanier made it clear the city would not help Adams build a
new stadium downtown. Nashville, "by contrast, is eager to meet
Adams' demands." Bredesen: "For an NFL team, I'm pretty darn
willing (to build a new stadium), as for the citizens, that has
yet to be determined." McClure said discussions in Nashville
would "become clearer" within 48 hours. Bredesen said the team
will be known as the Tennessee Oilers and would play at Neyland
Stadium in Knoxville or the Liberty Bowl while a new facility is
built. This marks the "second time in eight years that Adams has
threatened to leave," and some feel Adams "is using such
negotiations to get a better deal with the Astrodome" (John
Williams, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 8/11).
CARDS MAY STAY IN ARIZONA: Developer John F. Long met last
week with legal representatives of Cardinals Owner Bill Bidwell
about a West Valley site in Arizona for a new football stadium,
according to the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. Long: "I don't want to put
words in their mouth, but I think their interest is pretty high."
Bidwell has been running a series of full-page newspaper ads
stating he prefers to keep the Cardinals in Arizona's East
Valley, but added that is not "etched in stone. A developer
would have great input into that." Long's 120-acre site is the
same area he offered to give the county two years ago to build a
baseball stadium (John Davis, ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 8/11).
