MLB NEWS: SELIG CLOSE TO PERMANENT POSITION?

          MLB Acting Commissioner Bud Selig "wants the job" as
     permanent commissioner and "will take it if the owners
     continue to push for him," according to USA TODAY's Hal
     Bodley.  Since the CBA has been finalized, "owners have been
     urging him" to take the job (USA TODAY, 12/13).  Bodley also
     breaks down revenue sharing numbers according to management
     projections.  By 2000, when the plan is implemented 100%,
     the Yankees will pay $14.4M and the Expos would receive
     $13.5M (USA TODAY, 12/13).  
          TORONTO, ROGER? In Toronto, noting MLB's free-agents
     signings under the header, "Insanity Is Back," the SUN's
     Steve Simons of the SUN writes, "Salaries are going up.
     Payrolls are going up. ... And still there is no evidence of
     attendance going up, of revenues increasing, of waning
     interest returning to pre-strike form" (TORONTO SUN, 12/13).