UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, March 13, 1997
3B
NFL owners OKownership of nonfootball sports teams
The Associated Press
PALM DESERT, Calif. — Wayne Huizenga is in as an NFL owner. Paul Allen can be too, if he desires.
NFL owners approved crossownership on Tuesday, clearing the way for Huizenga to maintain control of the Miami Dolphins.
Huizenga also owns baseball's Florida Marlins and the NHL's Florida Panthers.
The ruling at the league's meetings eliminated a barrier that bars owners of non-football
franchises from also owning NFLteams.
"I'm glad that this issue has finally been resolved," Huizenga said in a statement released at the meetings. "Now that this matter is behind us, we can turn our full attention to the team itself."
"Wayne has shown he is a good owner and has operated the Miami Dolphins in an exemplary fashion," said Team President Eddie Jones, who represented the Dolphins at the meeting.
"The team will be taken out of trust, and it will now be a full-
fledged ownership, he said. Allen now can have a full-fledged ownership, as well.
The league's rule change means an NFL owner can also operate other major league franchises within his market, or in a neutral market — one with no NFL clubs.
That clears the way for Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, to take control of the Seattle Seahawks.
Allen, who owns the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, can exercise his option on the Seahawks, whose current owner, Ken
Behring, tried last year to move them to southern California.
Allen's option is contingent on approval by the Washington State Legislature and the voters of a $400 million stadium and conference center.
"At least all our hurdles are clear now," said Bob Whitsitt, president of the Trail Blazers and of Football Northwest.
"I think it's time cross-ownership comes to the NFL," said Steelers president Dan Rooney, whose family is an original league owner. "It was important
to get it done, and we've done a good job tightening up our rules."
Corporate ownership still will not be allowed.
It took some last-minute lobbying to get the cross-ownership rules changed.
The final vote was 24-5-1 — Buffalo, Washington, Chicago, Cincinnati and Detroit voted no and Oakland abstained.
But it did not pass until Carolina, New Orleans, Minnesota and Tampa Bay moved from the negative side and voted yes.
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