CLOCK STILL TICKING ON SKINS SALE, AS NFL PUSHES BACK VOTE

          NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue granted a request
     yesterday by the Howard Milstein-Daniel Snyder group "to
     delay for approximately three weeks" a vote on its $800M
     purchase of the team and Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, according
     to Maske, Heath & Shapiro of the WASHINGTON POST.  Tagliabue
     said that the vote, which was supposed to take place at the
     owners' meeting in Phoenix today, will be rescheduled for a
     special league meeting the week of April 5.  Tagliabue: "The
     votes were not there.  They requested this.  We thought the
     request was sensible."  Milstein: "We will fully satisfy the
     NFL."  Both Milstein and Snyder "spoke to the league's full
     ownership body for about 90 minutes" yesterday, but a "straw
     vote" of the NFL's eight-member Finance Committee on whether
     to recommend approval of the deal to the owners "yielded
     only a 3-3 split, with two abstentions."  Milstein's group
     then requested an extension when it realized it didn't have
     enough support for approval.  Sources close to the meetings
     said that during the Finance Committee's straw vote, Broncos
     Owner Pat Bowlen, Saints Owner Tom Benson and Titans Owner
     Bud Adams voted against recommending approval.  Tagliabue,
     who "didn't commit himself" to either side: "I don't think
     it's the commissioner's job to take sides."  Both Milstein
     and Snyder were asked by Colts Owner Jim Irsay if they
     "planned to file a lawsuit against the league if the sale is
     rejected," and both said that they "had no plans to sue"
     (WASHINGTON POST, 3/18).  Also in DC, Rick Snider reports
     that sources around Snyder say that he is "upset" with
     Milstein's delays in organizing the financing, and he feels
     that they "hurt the group's chances."  Sources also said
     that several owners told Snyder he should become the
     controlling owner because his $200M share contains
     "significant cash" compared to Milstein's "completely
     leveraged" portion (WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/18). 
          THE LEAGUE'S UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT? In DC, Thomas
     Boswell criticizes NFL owners: "The NFL has a big problem. 
     But it's not Milstein and Snyder.  It's the cabal of owners
     -- a small minority, some with transparent private motives -
     - who are hurting the league.  Instead of scrutinizing only
     the buyers, maybe the NFL should be looking at the agendas
     of some of its owners" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/18).