IN BRIEF : Jim Finks Makes NFL’s Final List

Saints owner Tom Benson said he reluctantly gave permission for the NFL search committee to talk to Jim Finks, confirming that Finks is on the final list of candidates to become National Football League commissioner.

Finks, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp and Washington lawyer Paul Tagliabue are the men most frequently mentioned as leading candidates to replace Pete Rozelle, who has announced his retirement.

Finks, 61, was an NFL quarterback from 1949 through 1955, and began his administrative career as general manager of the Calgary Stampeders football team in 1957. He became general manager of the Minnesota Vikings in 1964 and helped build a team that played in four Super Bowls. He moved to Chicago as general manager of the Bears in 1974 and oversaw the building of a Super Bowl team there. Benson hired him to build the Saints in 1986.