If Tampa can "get a stadium built quickly and have
everything else in order" soon, the city has been told by the NFL
it could host Super Bowl XXXIII in '99, according to the TAMPA
TRIBUNE. The game has been awarded to San Francisco, but league
officials are wary about the possibility of a new facility
replacing 3Com Park and thus delaying the Bay Area as host until
2001 or 2002. NFL Dir of Communications Greg Aiello: "I know
that if Tampa builds a new stadium, the commissioner has
committed to use his best efforts to bring another Super Bowl to
Tampa" (Pat Yasinskas, TAMPA TRIBUNE, 3/12).
RICHARDSON TO THE RESCUE? Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson,
who chairs the league's Stadium Committee, is the new "point man"
in the league's efforts to mediate a deal between the Bucs and
Tampa area officials for a new stadium. NFL Commissioner Paul
Tagliabue said a briefing on the Bucs' situation could come
either today or Wednesday, but he did confirm the league will
have the "deciding say" in placing a team in Cleveland in '99.
Tagliabue: We've been trying to mediate and keep both parties at
the negotiating table. ... We have a lease on Cleveland Stadium.
No one else is going to go in there because we are the lease"
(Yasinskas & Pugliese, TAMPA TRIBUNE, 3/12).
