More than 35,000 tickets have been sold for Sunday's MLS Cup
'96 in Foxboro, MA (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/17). MLS Commissioner Doug
Logan is interviewed in USA TODAY. Logan: "We're satisfied with
where we are now." He added that income from ticket sales was
$4M above projections. Changes for '97 include the recruitment
of more foreign players and MLS Deputy Commissioner Sunil Gulati
say the league may add up to 20 new international players (USA
TODAY, 10/17). ...Charles Barkley, on the NBA overpaying young
players who have yet to prove themselves: "The NBA made all these
guys stars so they can sell jerseys and shoes, but most of these
guys can't play. It's sad. We might laugh it off, but seriously
it's a shame" (AP/ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/17). ...SI's
"Scorecard," on the D'Backs signing free-agent Travis Lee to a
$10M contact: "Remember October 10, 1996. It may go down as the
day the economics of baseball changed forever" (SI, 10/21
issue)....WASHINGTON TIMES tennis writer Josh Young releases his
annual list of the "Eight Most Powerful People in Tennis." One
through eight: Nike CEO Phil Knight; Andre Agassi; IMG Senior
Corporate VP Bob Kain; ATP Tour Board of Dir member and Newsweek
Champions Cup/Evert Cup Tournament Dir Charlie Pasarell; Tennis
Industry Association President and Wilson Racquet Sports VP Jim
Baugh; ESPN VP/Programming Steven Risser; ATP Tour CEO Mark Miles
and Nuveen Tour Co-Owners Jimmy Connors and Ray Benton
(WASHINGTON TIMES, 10/15).