ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS
The WNBA, the NBA-sponsored league for women players, will have New York
and Los Angeles among its eight cities when it begins play in June 1997.
The league announced Wednesday that Charlotte (N.C.), Cleveland and Houston
will join New York in the Eastern Conference. In addition to Los Angeles, the
Western Conference features Phoenix, Sacramento (Calif.), and Utah.
The inagural season of the rival eight-team American Basketball League is underway.
Among the players in the WNBA will be Rebecca Lobo and Cheryl Swoopes, gold medalists with the U.S. team at the Atlanta Olympics.
In other NBA news:
* The league's board of governors approved a plan to provide up to $3 million per year of financial assistance to low-revenue teams. Five to eight teams are expected to qualify for the payments, which will come from a special account the league has been accumulating for four years.
``We've been leaving it there for what we'd call a rainy day, and it's just begun drizzling,'' commissioner David Stern said last week. The fund, which has grown to about $50 million, came from market-extension fees - money paid into a central fund by teams that broadcast their games beyond a 75-mile radius.
ETC. Colonial Downs closer to opening
Officials at Colonial Downs, the horse racing track under construction in New Kent County, said they had signed a two-year agreement with the Virginia Harness Horse Association.
The deal guarantees $2.5 million in purse money for each of the first two seasons at the state's first pari-mutuel track and gives the track agreements with organizations representing thoroughbred and harness horsemen. This month, the Virginia Racing Commission approved the track's schedule for 1997. It includes 30 days of live thoroughbred racing beginning June 29, and 50 days of harness racing starting Sept. 30.
LENGTH: Short : 44 linesby CNB