Team Owners

Nearly 70,000 people will converge today on a place many of them rarely visit: downtown Baltimore.They will arrive in cars, trains, buses and airplanes. They will peel off $10 and $20 bills for everything from parking to programs and peanuts. They will hoist beers at local pubs, roast greasy bratwursts on grills, and cheer as the Ravens kick off in their new, brick stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers.Then they will stream out, to homes as close as Canton and as far off as California. Left behind will be a $500 million question for taxpayers: Was it worth it?

At one time, sports boosters viewed referendums as a dead end for their stadium-building dreams.And for good reason: They usually lost.Not anymore. Despite the conservative trend against other forms of public subsidy and despite price tags of better than $400 million for some projects, voters have approved 13 stadiums and arenas in 10 American cities over the past two years.In fact, stadium projects have been rejected only twice in that period: an arena in Columbus, Ohio, and a ballpark for baseball's Seattle Mariners.

WASHINGTON -- With some common sense and caring, Congress could help America's communities become more livable.That's the claim of a freshman Oregon congressman, Earl Blumenauer. As an innovative Portland city commissioner and before that a state legislator, Mr. Blumenauer spent years championing such causes as neighborhood-based city planning, efficient land use, light rail and environmental recycling.Mr. Blumenauer lacks Washington ''clout.'' But he asks: Why couldn't Congress shift laws to give citizens meaningful input on land use and transportation decisions?

HOW CAN THE GREAT American sports scam -- the milking of communities for millions of dollars in subsidies to well-heeled professional team owners -- be stopped?Mark Rosentraub, associate dean of the University of Indiana's School of Public and Environmental Affairs, has analyzed the economics of teams with rare precision. And now he offers a solution:Stop subsidizing all professional teams. Make 'em all -- baseball, football, hockey, basketball, every one of them -- go cold turkey. Refuse to build arenas or ballparks for them.

Four months after standing on a plot in southwest Baltimore County to unveil his dream of building a new arena, the owner of Baltimore's professional hockey team pulled the plug yesterday on the project.Baltimore Bandits President Michael A. Caggiano killed his plans for the County Coliseum after he was unable to persuade County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger to free up public dollars to help develop the $42 million, 11,500-seat facility."Over the last couple of months, we tried everything," Caggiano said yesterday.

YOU CAN'T blame fans for their skepticism about the long-overdue accord between baseball owners and players. So much has been lost during this dispute.Two strike-shortened seasons. A year without a World Series. Utter contempt for the public shown by both sides. Losses of $1 billion for owners, $400 million for players. Sagging attendance and TV ratings. Fans angrily turning away from the former national pastime.Salvaging a labor agreement at least prevents matters from getting worse for a few years.

Stalled at the county executive's door, Michael A. Caggiano is taking his campaign to build a new arena to Baltimore County churches and Rotary clubs, restaurants and meeting rooms -- anywhere he can pitch his plans to the people.He may be in danger of losing the war, so he aims to win some battles.In a continuing series of meetings, Caggiano is campaigning like a polished politician, smoothly fielding questions and pushing the right buttons for communities starved for a slice of progress.

The owner of Baltimore's pro hockey team laid out plans yesterday for a 10,000-seat coliseum in southwest Baltimore County, a project that would serve as the county's first sports and entertainment complex and serve up direct competition for the Baltimore Arena.The name: County Coliseum.The price: $42 million.The owner: Michael A. Caggiano, 39, the upstart businessman who bought the financially troubled Baltimore Bandits hockey team this year and now wants to build it a new home.Yesterday, on a brisk sunny morning, Caggiano stood at the 33-acre site in the Beltway Business Park and unveiled his ambitious plans to transform the mostly barren land into a thriving complex by 1998.

Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, whose fight to move his team to Los Angeles 16 years ago cleared the way for all subsequent franchise moves, is suing the NFL again, saying the league -- with help from Baltimore team owner Art Modell -- forced him out of Southern California.The suit seeks more than $200 million and alleges a murky conspiracy of league officials and team owners to queer the Raiders' negotiations to get a new stadium built near Los Angeles in conjunction with the Hollywood Park racetrack.

Despite lawsuits, ultimatums from politicians and threats of eviction, Baltimore Stallions owner Jim Speros refused yesterday to move his team out of Memorial Stadium and asked state officials for more than $1 million he claims belongs to him.Constables taped a "failure to pay rent" notice on Mr. Speros' corporate office door at the stadium yesterday, and Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke offered to drop several lawsuits the city has pending against the...