Raiders Owner Al Davis said that with the NFL's new TV
deal, the expansion team "slated to move" into a new stadium
in Cleveland next fall "will be the most expensive in the
history of sports," according to Will McDonough of the
BOSTON GLOBE. Davis: "With this television money, that
franchise is now worth $500 million." Davis called the
Cleveland situation a "great deal," and added, "If that
owner, whoever it is, does the right thing, that franchise
can make $50 million a year, and when we expand the next
time, that franchise will be worth at [least] $500 million
as well" (Will McDonough, BOSTON GLOBE, 1/19).
CREDIT ALL AROUND: NEWSDAY's Bob Glauber wrote that
while NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue "takes a beating in
some circles ... you can't argue with Tagliabue's bottom
line. ... Record [TV] revenues and long-term labor peace.
I'd say the man's doing his job." Glauber added that while
Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones was on the league's TV committee,
sources said he "wasn't a prime player." Glauber: "It was
Tagliabue, Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Broncos owner Pat
Bowlen who stole the show" (NEWSDAY, 1/18). Kraft "conceived
and insisted" that a one-way reopener clause "be a key
element because it allows the owners to reopen the contract
if things change but does not afford the networks the same
luxury." Kraft: "I'm not sure people yet understand the
magnitude of that clause" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/18).
FROM SAN DIEGO: In N.Y., Mike Freeman reports that "a
small group" of black assistant coaches "has privately
talked about the possibility of filing a class-
discrimination lawsuit" against the NFL over the league's
hiring practices concerning head coaches (N.Y. TIMES, 1/20).
In other news, Freeman reports that "several league" execs
said the NFL is "holding back on giving the union its normal
allotment of Super Bowl tickets because the union will not
agree to the league's recent proposals to extend" the CBA.
The NFLPA has usually received 250 to 300 Super Bowl tickets
"weeks before the game," but this year the "union did not
hear from the league until recently and received fewer than
100 tickets" (Mike Freeman, N.Y. TIMES, 1/20).
