Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 27, 1990 TAG: 9007270654
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Whether you get the team, however, will depend more on your city and its ability to support pro football than it will on you and how deep your pockets are.
Trying to read between the lines of Thursday's NFL expansion status report, officials of cities bidding for teams saw plenty of positives.
Charlotte thinks two straight NFL preseason sellouts gives its city the expansion edge. Jacksonville figures an 82,000-seat stadium, already in place, just waiting for a team, is its advantage. Baltimore, St. Louis and maybe even Oakland are probably counting on an attack of conscience.
For its part, the NFL was playing it cozy.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue would say only that two-team expansion by 1993 was "a realistic objective," and that the location of new teams would depend "solely on the potential for communities to support an NFL team and not on the identity of potential ownership of teams. Individual ownership of new teams will not be determined until after the expansion communities have been selected."
Still, that was good enough to stoke the fires of hopeful cities.
"We are encouraged that there has been formal movement toward a timetable for expansion," said Mark Richardson, the son of ex-NFL wide receiver Jerry Richardson and general manager of Richardson Sports, which is spearheading Charlotte's effort. The city unveiled plans for a 70,000-seat stadium this week.
"Our investment in having complete site specific drawings prepared and the cooperation which the city, county and state governments are providing will give us that much more of a head start," Richardson said. "We would have no trouble whatsoever being ready with our state-of-the-art stadium for the 1993 season."
Richardson's organization sold out an NFL exhibition game between Philadelphia and the New York Jets in Raleigh last year and have sold out another exhibition Aug. 11 in Chapel Hill between Washington and Atlanta.
"Our 9.9 million market of new NFL fans within a reasonable drive and our overflow crowd in Raleigh last year and this year's sellout in Chapel Hill will be strong evidence in favor of our area," Richardson said.
Officials at Touchdown Jacksonville also are optimistic.
"It will be a dogfight, but we like our chances and I wouldn't count us out," Arthur "Chick" Sherrer told the Florida Times-Union. "Remember, Charlotte and Baltimore haven't laid a brick yet on their stadiums."
"We feel very good about our chances," said Tom Petway, chairman of Touchdown Jacksonville.
There had been speculation that the league might add as many as four new franchises. However, the NFL's expansion and realignment committee called that unrealistic, citing "overall economic climate and other factors."
Tagliabue said a decision on expansion would have to be made in 1991 or early 1992 at the latest to permit play in 1993. The NFL last expanded in 1976 when Tampa Bay and Seattle - each carrying $16 million pricetags - were added, pushing league membership to 28 teams. Those teams began play two years after the franchises were granted.
"Expansion involves examination of many complex issues including competitive balance, revenue sharing, television, scheduling and player employment," Tagliabue said. "The committee recognized that economic conditions in professional sports and the general economy are difficult to assess beyond the term of current NFL television contracts.
"The committee also recognized the possible bearing on expansion of the current labor relations situation in the league. If this continues, the prospects for adding new clubs could be negatively affected."
Ex-commissioner Pete Rozelle often said expansion would not be considered until a labor agreement was reached. NFL players have been without a collective bargaining agreement since 1987.
In addition to expansion, the NFL is preparing to change the arrangement of its 28 current clubs, perhaps as soon as 1992. Tagliabue said the committee, composed of Tom Benson of New Orleans, Norman Braman of Philadelphia, Hugh Culverhouse of Tampa Bay, Ed DeBartolo, Jr. of San Francisco, Art Modell of Cleveland, Dan Rooney of Pittsburgh and Jim Finks of New Orleans, had expressed "strong interest in a thorough examination of realignment."
The committee meets again Sept. 14 and is expected to recommend limited realignment of clubs at the next regularly scheduled league meeting in Chicago, Oct. 16-17.
by CNB