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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 19, 1995                   TAG: 9510190059
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

VA. GROUP EYES ASTROS

Bill Collins and his Virginia baseball group are trying to buy the Houston Astros and move them to the Washington area, according to a report Wednesday night by a Washington television station.

Collins and his group have had ``substantial discussions'' with Astros owner Drayton McLane about purchasing the Houston club, said WTTG-TV.

It said the Collins group would first move the Astros to Robert F. Kennedy Stadium for next season. It would move the team to Northern Virginia as soon as a stadium could be built, probably near Dulles Airport, the station said.

In other sports news:

Abe Pollin, the owner of the Washington Bullets and Capitals, mounted a backhoe Wednesday and broke ground on a new downtown arena.

Pollin is footing the $175 million construction cost. The 20,600-seat arena, expected to be completed in time for the Capitals' and Bullets' 1997-98 seasons, will have more big-revenue luxury boxes and better public transportation access than the teams' current home, the 22-year-old USAir Arena in suburban Landover, Md.

Keywords:
BASEBALL HOCKEY BASKETBALL

by CNB