Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 30, 1993 TAG: 9311300033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ROSEMONT, ILL. LENGTH: Medium
After all these years of waiting, the favorites to get the second NFL expansion franchise today may be the Johnny-come-latelies.
St. Louis' Gateway Football Partnership, hastily assembled the day before the league awarded the first franchise to Charlotte, N.C. on Oct. 26, is considered the front-runner when the NFL owners meet for E-Day, Take Two, at a suburban Chicago hotel.
The city has the nation's 18th television market - the biggest without a team - and a domed stadium under construction. Plus, New England owner James Busch Orthwein has threatened to move the Patriots to St. Louis if the city is denied an expansion team.
"Other people are talking about stadiums," said Stan Kroenke, head of the St. Louis group. "We're building ours. St. Louis has got to be extremely attractive to the league."
The group also is close to adding Walter Payton, the NFL's career leading rusher. Chicago Bears owner Mike McCaskey said he would cast his vote for his former player.
Coming up fast is the third Baltimore ownership group headed by Al Lerner, a minority owner of the Cleveland Browns. This group wasn't formed until Charlotte got a team.
The other entries - Jacksonville, Memphis and the other two Baltimore groups - have been around for years.
But the two other Baltimore groups, headed by Leonard "Boogie" Weinglass and Malcolm Glazer, were spurned by their own city's expansion committee. Gov. William Donald Schaefer quickly threw his support to Lerner.
"I think if we had stayed pat, we would have been out altogether," Schaefer said. "It's a whole new ballgame. It gives us a whole new dimension."
Baltimore likely needed one because of its proximity to both Washington and Philadelphia. Also, the league already voted in one East Coast team when it picked Charlotte and had indicated it wanted the two new teams to present a balanced ticket.
"We accept the fact that we're located where we are and that TV market is not quite that of St. Louis'," said Herb Belgrad, chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority. "We can't change those things. But when it comes to the stadium lease and the selling of luxury boxes, we're better than all the other cities."
At least, probably better than Jacksonville and Memphis. The heads of both groups have strongly considered dropping out since Charlotte got a team.
The day begins about 8 a.m., when the expansion and finance committee meets. This will probably last all morning, and each group has been asked to be available to answer any questions. Lerner also may make a presentation.
The committee then makes a recommendation to the owners. After that, it's anybody's guess when the waiting will end. The winning city needs votes from 21 of the 28 owners and most in the competition are expecting a long day.
Last time, the NFL was sold on Charlotte but its official stance was that an agreement on the second city couldn't be reached. The delay gave owners time to check out Kroenke, a mall developer and heir to the Wal-Mart empire.
St. Louis and Baltimore are trying to get back into the league. St. Louis lost the Cardinals to Phoenix after the 1987 season and Baltimore lost the Colts in 1984 when owner Robert Irsay moved the team in the middle of the night.
Jacksonville and Memphis are in much smaller markets, but have well-heeled ownership groups and promise that an NFL team would be the only game in town.
Whatever happens, the competition won't end when a second city gets the NFL's 30th team. While it's thought the league might address the prospect of future expansion, the losers are expected to begin courting existing teams.
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