Devils Take First Step Out Door
Two days after winning the Stanley Cup, the New Jersey Devils took another legal step to break their lease and clear the way for a possible move, perhaps to Nashville, Tenn., after the 1996-97 season.
But even though the Devils on Monday notified the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority of their intent to end their agreement in two years, that doesn’t necessarily mean the team will leave.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Christie Whitman said talks to keep the team in New Jersey are continuing, and the governor, a close ally of team owner John McMullen, remains optimistic the two sides can renegotiate a new lease. The current lease, renegotiated in 1991, expires in 2002.
The Devils’ termination notice came hours before the team announced plans to hold a rally Wednesday in honor of the Stanley Cup championship at the Meadowlands Arena. It also happened as the state assembly unanimously approved a resolution urging McMullen to keep the team in the state.
“We were looking at a celebration, not a termination,” Whitman spokeswoman Rita Manno said. “It did come as a surprise, but it may be strictly a legal maneuver on the part of the Devils.”
Manno said Whitman supports the sports authority and believes the current lease is valid. The sports authority said its general counsel is reviewing the Devils’ termination letter.
McMullen has been considering a lucrative offer to move the team to Nashville while trying to renegotiate his Meadowlands Arena lease, something he did in 1986 and 1991.
The Devils are seeking to break their lease by using an amendment contained in the original agreement signed in 1982. That amendment allowed the team to end its franchise agreement after 15 full seasons. The renegotiated agreement in 1991 pushed the date the Devils could end their lease to 2002.
In filing their notice, the Devils maintained the 1991 amendment was invalid.
“For the past four years, the authority and the Devils have abided by the terms of that amendment which the Authority maintains is valid,” Chairman Michael Francis and chief executive officer Robert Mulcahy said in a joint statement released by the sports authority.
The notice terminating the lease is the second legal maneuver by the Devils in recent months. They also filed a default notice with the sports authority listing 13 points on which they alleged the authority had violated its lease. If any one of those points were proved, the Devils would be free to move.
Jurisprudence
Dennis Rodman had unprotected sex with Lisa Beth Judd, 24, a former Atlanta Hawk cheerleader, a day after a Detroit woman went to his home and told him he had given her genital herpes, according to Judd’s attorney, Mark Trigg.
But an attorney representing Rodman in a federal lawsuit brought by the Atlanta woman said there was no evidence Rodman has ever had a transmittable form of the incurable disease.
Judd is suing Rodman for unspecified damages after she claimed Rodman, with whom she had an on-and-off relationship since 1991, gave her herpes on Jan. 14, 1993, when he came to Atlanta while playing for the Detroit Pistons. Judd said that Rodman had told her the night he gave her herpes he was ready to get serious about their relationship.
“That was exactly what Lisa had hoped he would say,” Trigg said in opening arguments to the eight-woman, two-man jury. “Lisa loved Dennis Rodman. Lisa trusted Dennis Rodman.”
The usually flamboyant Rodman, who came to court wearing a green jacket and dark slacks but no tie, had given herpes to two other women about two weeks earlier, Trigg said.
Richard Hines, representing Rodman, told the jury there was no medical evidence the 26-year-old Detroit woman who accused Rodman of giving her herpes has the disease.
A group of Miami horse owners and trainers sued Hialeah Park and 74 simulcasting outlets in the United States and Canada, claiming they illegally accepted nearly $11 million in off-track wagers.
The federal suit was filed by the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, which represents about 5,000 horsemen nationwide. It said the illegal wagering came during the last 10 days of the 60-day season at Hialeah Park after the FHBPA had withdrawn its consent for such wagering.
The consent, pulled May 11, was required under a 1978 federal law and the FHBPA’s contract with the suburban Hialeah Park, according to the lawsuit. It’s the first suit filed under the 17-year-old law, said Kent Stirling, FHBPA president.
“These outlets chose to ignore our attorney’s letter advising them that we had withdrawn our consent to accept wagering on the simulcasts,” Stirling said.
Hialeah, like most tracks, derives a substantial part of its income from simulcasting races to wagering outlets around the country.
Basketball
Velimir Perasovic scored 23 points and Toni Kukoc had 10 assists and eight rebounds as Croatia cruised over Turkey, 90-68, and Yugoslavia defeated Sweden, 85-58, as both teams kept on course for a showdown in the final at the European Championship Athens, Greece.
Syracuse’s John Wallace will join Kentucky’s Rodrick Rhodes and remain in college next season and not enter the NBA draft.
“I’ve been without money for 21 years,” said Wallace, who averaged 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season. “I can wait another year.”
Pro Football
The Rams’ long-awaited move became a reality when 11 moving vans filled with everything from footballs to blocking sleds showed up in St. Louis Monday.
The moving vans were the first in a caravan of 18 vehicles being used to move the Rams from Anaheim. They arrived downtown shortly after noon for an impromptu welcoming event. The Ram training camp doesn’t begin until July 16, so many of players have yet to arrive.
Cincinnati Bengal President Mike Brown says he will take steps that could lead to a move from the city if officials fail to reach agreement by Thursday on a new football stadium. If Cincinnati and Hamilton County cannot agree by then, Brown said he will begin negotiating exclusively with a group trying to attract an NFL team to Baltimore.