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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 15, 1994                   TAG: 9402150156
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CFL SET TO MOVE INTO BALTIMORE

The effort to bring a Canadian Football League team to Baltimore this year will be all but completed today when Mayor Kurt Schmoke formally leases Memorial Stadium to the expansion franchise.

Schmoke has scheduled a news conference to announce that he will lease the 40-year-old stadium to Jim Speros, a Virginia businessman who has been vying for months to bring professional football to Baltimore.

The CFL has delayed approval of Speros' franchise pending the signing of the lease. Once Speros has the lease, the league is expected to quickly ratify his bid.

Speros already has named a coach, Don Matthews, and has ironed out most of the details for the season that begins in July. The only remaining obstacle was securing a home field.

Schmoke said weeks ago that he would not make an announcement until Feb. 15, the day after the self-imposed deadline for Baltimore's bid to land an NFL team had expired. Although it appears the city will continue its effort to lure an NFL team, that should not affect the launching of the CFL expansion franchise.

"We will gladly work things out so that both teams can coexist," Speros said last week. "We're ready to go and we're ready to make this announcement. We have a product that I think people are going to come out and watch."

In other football:

Jack Fleming, who called Franco Harris' "Immaculate Reception" and four Super Bowls for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has retired from NFL broadcasts.

Fleming, 65, will continue to broadcast West Virginia University football and basketball games on the Mountaineer Sports Network. Fleming began broadcasting Steelers games in 1958 on Pittsburgh radio station WWSW, moved to KDKA in 1962 and WTAE in 1970, when he was paired with Myron Cope. Their 24-year partnership was the longest of any active NFL broadcasting team. Fleming played the straight man to the wisecracking Cope.

"Myron and I had a lot of fun, and it was a tremendous thrill to work with Chuck Noll and so many great players," Fleming said.

His most famous call was of Harris' game-winning catch of a deflected pass in a 1972 playoff game with the Oakland Raiders.

by CNB