Malcolm Glazer

Although the filing deadline is tomorrow, Baltimore should find out today whether it will have three or four ownership groups vying for an NFL expansion team.Three groups are committed to applying this week, but Phyllis Brotman, spokeswoman for Maryland NFL Expansion Group Ltd., said her group will decide today whether to become the fourth."We've completed the application. It's beautiful," she said.But the group hasn't decided whether to send it in with a $100,000 check -- only $50,000 is refundable -- because Maryland Expansion Group still is talking to a major Maryland investor who hasn't decided whether to back the group, Brotman said.

If Baltimore wins the race for a National Football League expansion team, it will need to unite behind a single bidder. And that individual has to possess oodles and oodles of hard, cold cash -- perhaps as much as $200 million worth.Nathan Landow, a prominent Maryland real estate developer, had pieced together an impressive group of well-heeled individuals eager to plunk down $100 million in greenbacks to secure an NFL team for Baltimore. But this won't be nearly enough to win the hard-fought contest.

Nathan Landow read the fine print at the bottom of those profit and loss statements and decided he didn't need to wait for the writing on the wall.Landow, a Bethesda real estate developer, called off his two-year bid for an NFL expansion team in Baltimore yesterday, then threw his support to Malcolm Glazer, citing Glazer's offer to pay as much as $200 million in cash for the franchise."

The Malcolm Glazer family, the newest entrant in the National Football League expansion derby, says it has the financial clout to jump-start Baltimore's stalled franchise bid.Glazer, the sole owner of a privately owned conglomerate, brings an asset that no other potential owner may be able to match: He says he has the liquid capital available to write a check for the full price of the team without selling any assets or borrowing money.In their first interview since they notified the Maryland Stadium Authority last month that they planned to bid for a team for Baltimore, two of Mr. Glazer's sons, Bryan and Joel, said yesterday that the family has the cash available to buy the team even if it costs from $150 million to $200 million.

Another name, that of Malcolm Glazer, wealthy Floridian, may soon be entered in the city's football expansion sweepstakes. Glazer has expressed what a member of the Greater Baltimore Committee termed "more than a cursory interest" but refused to disclose any other details.No decision has been reached, although it is understood Glazer, along with his two sons, heads what up until now has been the mysterious "unnamed" group. But that's put into the past tense, their identity, that is, while further developments are awaited.