SI's Peter King reports that it's "a virtual certainty"
that the Patriots "will strike a deal" to play elsewhere in
New England. The contenders are Hartford, Providence and
"long-shot" Nashua, NH (SI, 8/24 issue)....The Hurricanes
and members of the Centennial Authority met yesterday, but
said "little progress" was made toward striking a deal on
the team's contribution towards cost overruns at Raleigh
arena. Gale Force Holdings President Dean Jordan said the
team was "running out of options" as to where it could play
an may be "forced to pay additional money to the authority."
Jordan: "Essentially it comes down to where it's going to
cost us the most to play [Greensboro or Raleigh]" (Raleigh
NEWS & OBSERVER, 8/20)....The FL Alcoholic Beverages &
Tobacco official supervising Pinellas County, FL, is
reviewing the Devil Rays' current beer practices. For every
beer that is sold, the team gets 15% to 47% of the money,
while also reportedly receiving up to $1.2M from Anheuser-
Busch as part of a marketing partnership. FL officials say
that the team "earning money from both beermakers and beer-
drinkers" is against the law, which has "stalled approval of
a permanent" liquor license. The team's concessionaire,
Volume Services, will ask the FL Legislature to change the
liquor law (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 8/20).
