Mayor Promises 49ers Stadium Improvements

San Francisco 49er owner Edward DeBartolo Jr., said Wednesday that Mayor Dianne Feinstein has convinced him that proper improvements could be made at Candlestick Park and, therefore, he is not eager to move his football team.

Feinstein flew to Phoenix, the site of the National Football League annual meetings, to outline improvements to the stadium, saying as much as $20-$30 million would be pumped into refurbishing the stadium. “We are going on the assumption the San Francisco 49ers will be staying in San Francisco,” Feinstein said as she put an arm around DeBartolo’s shoulder. “I’m feeling a lot better about the situation.”

DeBartolo said: “I think it is one of the best playing fields in the NFL. The deplorable conditions at the stadium still exist, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fixed up to be a very workable situation.”

Ed Emory, who was fired from his job as East Carolina University football coach last December with three years left on his contract, filed a $1-million lawsuit, saying he is seeking damages for losing the job. Emory’s 1983 team went 8-3 and was ranked in the top 20. That feat earned Emory an extension of his contract through 1988. The 1984 team finished 2-9 and he was dismissed.

Arkansas Coach Eddie Sutton expressed interest in the coaching vacancy at Auburn more than a month ago, according to Auburn Athletic Director Pat Dye. He said that Sutton called James Martin, the Auburn president and former president of the University of Arkansas, and that Martin passed the word to him. Dye said Sutton expressed interest in the job but said that he didn’t want to talk about it until the season was over.

The Razorbacks will play Iowa tonight in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Salt Lake City.

“There has been conversation with Auburn, but it has been done in the last 10 days to two weeks,” Sutton told the Northwest Arkansas Times. I’ve never applied for that job.”

Former boxing champion Wilfred Benitez, who was planning a comeback fight March 30 at Aruba against Dominican middleweight Antonio Espinal, has withdrawn from the scheduled 10-round bout. Raul Marquez of Puerto Rican Promoters said Benitez told him of his decision by telephone. He said if the former champion doesn’t show up for the bout, “we’re going to take him to court, and file a complaint with the Puerto Rico Boxing Commission.”

Joan Ryan, a sportswriter for the Orlando Sentinel, claims Birmingham Stallions president Jerry Sklar laughed while team members harassed her during a locker room interview after a USFL game last week.

Ryan said that players “yelled insults at me and made dirty remarks to each other” when she entered the team dressing room after a game at Orlando last Saturday. She said she left when one player began stroking her leg with the handle of a razor. Ryan said that a well-dressed man she later learned was Sklar was “chuckling” as she left the dressing room. She said that he told her the locker room was not the proper place for women and accused her of entering just so she could look at naked men. Sklar denies laughing at her or even speaking to her.

The Cosmos, who withdrew last month from the Major Indoor Soccer League, were expeled Wednesday from the North American Soccer League for failing to post a letter of credit for the 1985 outdoor season.

East Germany intends to participate in the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, Klaus Eichler, vice-chairman of the East German National Sports Federation, told the Times of London.

Names in the News

Albert B. (Happy) Chandler was discharged from the University of Kentucky Medical Center, one week after undergoing spinal surgery. Chandler, 86, former baseball commissioner, says he plans to attend the opening day of the 1985 baseball season April 8 at Cincinnati as the guest of Commissioner Peter Ueberroth.

The formal filing of a marijuana possession charge against Atlanta Braves right fielder Claudell Washington will not affect his status with the team, Braves Vice President Al Thornwell said Wednesday.