Expansion of NFL, World League Halted

Expansion was postponed and the World League was put in mothballs for at least a year Thursday by NFL owners meeting in Grapevine, Tex., to discuss the fallout from last week’s antitrust verdict in Minneapolis.

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said that if the World League is revived--1994 was mentioned as a target year--it will be oriented more to Europe, where it was more popular than in the United States.

As for expansion, scheduled to be determined Oct. 20, Tagliabue did not rule out the league sticking to its timetable to expand in 1994, and added:

“Right now, the priorities are labor and a new television contract. It’s a matter of priorities.”

On labor, Tagliabue was more conciliatory than he has been since the verdict. He said that the league would have some plan in place by next Feb. 1, when more than 500 players are due to become free agents, and that he hoped it would be through the first collective bargaining agreement since the players’ strike five years ago.