PROSPECTS FOR NFL LABOR EXTENSION BLEAK AS OF LAST NIGHT

     Negotiations on an extension of the NFL's current CBA with
the NFLPA were not going well as of halftime of last night's
"Monday Night" game.  According to SI's Peter King's halftime
report:  "Bad news from league headquarters.  The NFL and its
players union have talked all weekend and into the night about
extending the current labor contract two more years through 2001.
But the NFL's Harold Henderson got a new offer from union chief
Gene Upshaw at 8:00 tonight.  Tomorrow is the drop-dead date for
talks.  And that's what this deal seems like -- dead" (ABC,
12/18).
     PROTECT THE CAP:  In Tacoma, John Clayton writes of the
current deal:  "When both sides complain, then things aren't too
unfair.  This year, the owners are doing more of the complaining.
If they don't shut up, they are going to blow the only thing that
prevents them from a baseball-type labor war. ... By letting the
cap die, owners will break their own economic backs.  The players
are going to get the money one way or the other" (Tacoma NEWS
TRIBUNE, 12/18).