
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 7, 1993                   TAG: 9307070201
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: BALTIMORE                                LENGTH: Short

NAACP RETREATS FROM ENDORSEMENT OF CHARLOTTE IN NFL

Stung by criticism of its endorsement of an NFL franchise for Charlotte, N.C., the NAACP on Tuesday recast its statement of support for Baltimore's rival suitor and set up a meeting today with the city's top African-American politicians.

After nearly a week of controversy, officials of the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People still seemed taken aback by the emotional reaction in Baltimore to the endorsement and rumblings of discontent from NAACP insiders elsewhere in the country.

Don Rojas, the NAACP's director of communications, said Tuesday that the nation's oldest civil rights group does not "favor any one city over another in this NFL bidding war."

Rojas said the NAACP leaders' "off-the-cuff" support of the Charlotte bid Thursday was not intended to demand that the NFL pick Charlotte but to highlight the commitments that Jerry Richardson, the prospective owner of the Carolina Panthers, had made to include African-Americans in stadium construction, franchise employment and concessions.

Keywords:
FOOTBALL

by CNB