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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 10, 1994                   TAG: 9403100120
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MARYLAND GIVES 'SKINS APPROVAL

Gov. William Donald Schaefer and legislative leaders signed a truce Wednesday on the football stadium issue, agreeing to welcome the Washington Redskins to Maryland while pursuing a football franchise for Baltimore.

House Speaker Casper Taylor, D-Allegany, said the agreement clears the way for Jack Kent Cooke to go ahead with his plan to build a 78,600-seat stadium for the Washington Redskins in Laurel.

In return for saying he welcomes the Redskins to Maryland, Schaefer got a commitment from Taylor and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller that the legislature will not cancel funding for a football stadium at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Alan Rifkin, lobbyist for Cooke, said the Redskins owner had not seen the statement signed by the three officials or a consultant's report issued Wednesday on highway improvements that would be needed if the stadium is built.

He said the statement and report are "really the first major step" toward filing a zoning application with Anne Arundel County to build the stadium. But he said he does not know how soon Cooke might move ahead.

Cooke has said he will build the $160 million stadium with his own money, but is expected to ask the state and the county to pay part or all of the cost of improving roads to get traffic in and out of the site near Laurel Race Course.

by CNB