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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1993                   TAG: 9312080100
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ASHBURN                                LENGTH: Medium

COOKE SAYS 'SKINS WILL BUILD IN MD.

The Washington Redskins will build a stadium between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, owner Jack Kent Cooke said Tuesday, abandoning his effort to keep the NFL team in the nation's capital.

"For almost five years, I have planned and struggled to obtain permission to build the new Redskins Stadium in the District of Columbia," Cooke said in a statement. "I now know I cannot overcome the forces against me. So I have decided to build the stadium elsewhere."

Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer, accusing Cooke of sabotaging Baltimore's attempt to land an NFL expansion team, said he would fight the plan.

Cooke wants to build a 78,600-seat stadium on a 55-acre site next to Laurel Racetrack in Anne Arundel County, Md. He hopes his team will open the 1996 season there.

The Redskins' lease at 56,454-seat RFK Stadium in Washington expires after the 1995 season.

The new stadium would be built about 20 miles northeast of RFK, the Redskins' home since it opened in 1961.

In his statement, Cooke thanked Virginia Gov.-elect George Allen - the son of the late Redskins coach - for trying to find a site in Northern Virginia.

"However, since the majority of Redskins fans who attend RFK Stadium are Marylanders, I have opted to build the stadium in Laurel," Cooke said.

Schaefer said the Cooke plan would hurt efforts by Baltimore to lure an NFL franchise from another city. League owners, meeting in Chicago a week ago, rejected bids by Baltimore and three other cities while choosing Jacksonville, Fla., for an expansion team.

"He worked against us in Chicago by saying he was going to build a stadium in Maryland," said Schaefer, a former Baltimore mayor. "It was a dirty trick.

Recalling that Cooke last year broke off negotiations because of delays, some D.C. officials said Tuesday they do not think the plan to build in Maryland is written in stone.

Cooke and Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder announced an agreement in the summer of 1992 to build a stadium for the Redskins in Alexandria, but that plan fell through because of local opposition.

Keywords:
FOOTBALL

by CNB