According to Tagliabue, Rose Bowl Still in the Picture

The NFL, while still aggressively investigating the concept of building a football stadium in Carson, reached out to Rose Bowl officials Monday with an encouraging letter from Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

“Our interest in the Rose Bowl as a possible home for an NFL team and for future Super Bowls is as strong, if not stronger, as when we began seriously discussing the concept more than two years ago,” Tagliabue wrote in the one-page letter, faxed to Pasadena City Manager Cynthia Kurtz and Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn.

Tagliabue requested a face-to-face meeting in Pasadena with Rose Bowl officials within the next three weeks for the purposes of “reviewing with you your proposal in detail, considering matters that may need elaboration or clarification, giving specific feedback, and addressing any concerns you may have.”

Investment banker John Moag, point man for the Rose Bowl proposal, said the letter is an “extremely positive” step.

“I don’t think the commissioner writes a letter like that willy-nilly,” Moag said. “It’s highly significant.”

Dunn, Kurtz and Bill Thomson, who heads the stadium’s tenant-search committee, met in closed session with the Pasadena City Council on Monday night to discuss the letter. Mayor Bill Bogaard said the intent this week is to arrange the meeting with the NFL. Tagliabue was unclear on whether he would participate in the meeting, although he is scheduled to be in the Bay Area within the next month.

Said Dunn: “If you’re trying to do a deal with the NFL, the most you can hope for is for a letter from the commissioner asking you to sit down and talk about it.”

It had been a disheartening two weeks for Rose Bowl backers, who proposed the loose parameters of a deal to NFL owners only to watch them turn their attention to a 157-acre landfill in Carson that another group is touting as an ideal stadium site.

Team owners voted almost unanimously to authorize Tagliabue to advance the Carson group as much as $10 million to prove the feasibility of their concept.

Pasadena had requested exclusive negotiating rights with the NFL and threatened to pull the Rose Bowl proposal off the table if it did not get them within 10 days. Only later did city officials soften that stance, agreeing to negotiate on a non-exclusive basis.

Even as they court the Rose Bowl, NFL executives are keeping their options wide open. The league has retained the law firm Latham & Watkins, at least in part to look into land deals in the Los Angeles area. Working on the NFL’s behalf are attorneys George Mihlsten, a leading land-use expert, and David Rogers, who specializes in major transactions. Neither could be reached for comment.

Mihlsten and Rogers both worked on the Staples Center deal and on a failed attempt to bring an NFL expansion franchise to the Coliseum in 1999.

Notably, Latham & Watkins in the past has represented GMS Realty, the development company handling the Carson site.

-- Sam Farmer

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The San Francisco 49ers released wide receiver J.J Stokes, ending a nine-year relationship with the former first-round draft pick from UCLA who no longer fit into their plans.

Stokes, who lost his starting job to Tai Streets early last season, was cut in a move that will save the 49ers $2.25 million against the salary cap.

Stokes had only 32 receptions during an ineffective 2002 season while Streets blossomed in his place.

It was the third time in four years that Stokes caught 34 passes or fewer since he signed a lucrative deal in 1999 that included a $4.5-million signing bonus.

Stokes, the 10th player selected in the 1995 draft, finished his 49er career ninth in team history with 327 receptions.

He also had 4,139 yards receiving and 30 touchdowns in 111 games.

The 49ers also released veteran defensive end Junior Bryant, who has been sidelined the last two seasons because of back problems.

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Quarterback Akili Smith’s four frustrating years with the Cincinnati Bengals ended when new Coach Marvin Lewis continued to remake the roster by releasing the former first-round pick from Oregon State.

The third overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft, Smith said he is pleased the Bengals gave him a chance to restart his career with another team.

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The Brian Griese era in Denver officially came to a close when the Broncos released their former starting quarterback to clear space under the salary cap.

By releasing Griese after June 1, the Broncos will save $4.9 million in cap space next season and $1.4 million in 2004.

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The New Orleans Saints signed wide receiver Joe Horn to a three-year contract.

Terms were not disclosed, but Horn was seeking an average salary in line with the NFL’s top 10 highest-paid receivers, between $4.5 million and $5.1 million annually.

He was scheduled to make base salaries of $2.7 million in 2003 and $2.9 million in 2004.

The Saints also signed two draft picks to three-year deals -- defensive end Melvin Williams, a fifth-round selection from Kansas State, and wide receiver Kareem Kelly, a sixth-round pick from USC.

Miscellany

The women’s world hockey championships for 2003 were canceled after the tournament in China was first postponed in April because of the SARS virus.

The International Ice Hockey Federation announced the move on the first day of its meetings in Marbella, Spain.

The tournament was postponed in Beijing because of the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has killed more than 700 people so far.

The Indiana Fever signed veteran point guard Sonja Henning and released second-year forward Zuzi Klimesova.

Henning played for Houston and Seattle last season and appeared in one game with Washington before she was released last week.

UCLA center Ryan Hollins is one of 16 finalists for the USA junior basketball team following a three-day tryout at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The 12-member team will be finalized during training camp June 24-July 6.