(opening statement) "I was in New Orleans and in Louisiana in late June with Tom Benson, and we met with the governor and the lieutenant governor, and the mayor to talk about the Saints, and the partnership between the Saints, and at that time Tom asked me to come to this game. He told me that the Saints would be either 4-0 or 3-1, and that they would be challenging the 49ers for the NFC West leadership. I told him that we would have to wait and see. He turned out to be right, and a couple of weeks ago I was at the Redskins-49ers game, and I think what’s striking this year in our season on the field is that the NFC East, which used to be everyone’s tough division is now not exactly dominating, and now the NFC West looks like it’s got some real good football teams, so we’re going to find out a lot more today how that compares as we watch the 49ers play the Saints, and of course Atlanta plays the Giants tonight, so we’ll see if the power’s really shifting to the west. For that I’ll take any questions that anybody has."

(on a CBS report about the realignment of the NFL) "At our meeting in October, we’re going to have discussions about schedule for (19) 99 with the 31 teams. There are two different ideas we’re going to discuss. One will be that Cleveland will be in a division, AFC Central with six teams. So we’ll have three divisions. One will have six. The other idea that’s been put forth, that we’ll have four divisions in the AFC of four teams each, which would require realignment. That’s going to be discussed at our October meetings."

(on the Edward DeBartolo situation) "I said earlier in the week that Edward DeBartolo would be totally divorced from 49ers operations at least through the remainder of this season, and that we were reviewing the matter, and that’s basically where things stand."

(on how long the review of the DeBartolo matter would take) "I couldn’t speculate. As I stand here today, we’re working on it, but I don’t expect it to be concluded by the end of this season."

(on what will be reviewed) "We’re going to review a lot of materials. I’m not going to go into any details. We’re going to review a lot of material."

(on if he can’t say what any of the material is) "That’s correct."

(on how New Orleans’ chances of being granted the 2002 Super Bowl) "A lot of people asked me that question this morning, and I think that New Orleans keeps getting better and better as a Super Bowl city, and when I came in yesterday they took me to the expansion of the convention center, and we talked last night about a number of the new hotels that are under construction, and I think anyone that’s

been around this city in the last few days can see how attractive it is, and what’s going on here. At the same time we have to be realistic. San Diego hosted a heck of a Super Bowl, and it offers a lot as well. It’s too close to call I think. Both cities have got strong records on the Super Bowls. Both cities have produced great events from the fan standpoint, and we’ll have to see what happens. I could not predict today where the game’s going to be."

(on if he has had a chance to monitor the stadium situation in San Francisco) "Yes, the question is have I had a chance to monitor the San Francisco stadium situation since the meeting with mayor (Willie) Brown a couple of weeks ago. The answer is yes. Our people have spoken with the mayor’s staff. I’ve spoken with Larry Thrailkill on a number of occasions about some of the follow-up meetings, and I think that it’s on track as we expected when we met with the mayor."

(on how personally saddened he is by Edward DeBartolo’s situation given his involvement in so many positive things with the NFL) "Obviously anytime someone gets into a problem, some of the law problems of this type, you’re not only saddened, you can be devastated. As someone who practiced law for a number of years, I know what that does in terms of personal pressure, and obviously a lot of the players who have played for the 49ers, the Dwight Clarks, the Joe Montanas, they recognize how important Eddie’s leadership was to getting where they got, so I think from that standpoint is very, very disturbing."

(on if the league has guidelines concerning a felony conviction) "We don’t have guidelines. We have some precedents. Obviously some other sports have had precedents that they’ve dealt with, and we’ll be looking at all of that as we conduct our review."

(on if he has spoken to Edward DeBartolo) "I have not spoken to Eddie DeBartolo recently. I did speak with him when Carmen Policy made his announcement that he was going to be pursuing the Cleveland opportunity back in July. Eddie and I spoke at that time, but not since then."

(on if the outcome of the Edwin Edwards trial will have any outcome on DeBartolo’s situation) "Again, I can’t speculate as to what would have an impact and what wouldn’t. I can’t speculate about what might happen until I see what happens."

(on if this current situation drags on if the 49ers can continue to be run in the interim basis it is currently operated under) "I think so, because I think Mrs. York understands that she has a good management team in place now. She has a lot of confidence in Larry Thrailkill, Dwight Clark, Billy Duffy, the head coach obviously, Steve Mariucci. I think there’s a lot of continuity there and stability, and I’m sure that Mrs. York will revisit it after the season, and see whether any changes are needed depending on where we are at that time."

(on if the review of the DeBartolo situation will conclude at the end of the season) "I didn’t say that. I

said we’ll revisit at the end of the season and see where we are."

(on if the prospects for NFL expansion in Houston have changed any) "No, at our meeting in October we’re going to have two presentations on behalf of Los Angeles. One would be on behalf of the (Los Angeles) Coliseum, the other would be on the site that Michael Ovitz is proposing for a stadium in Carson, and then we’ll have the Houston presentation, which focuses on the proposed retractable dome stadium that’s been developed there with the leadership of the business community, and the mayor, and Judge Eckels, but I think we’ll know specifically more on that after we get those presentations in late October."

(on if the league would consider it tampering if current 49er employees were in Cleveland or speaking to Cleveland) "No, I’ve spoken to Larry Thrailkill, and I knew that there might be some transitional meetings. He and I spoke about that on several occasions, that there might be a need for employees to talk to Carmen Policy on the phone or in person. I understand it was that kind of meeting with Dwight Clark in the last few days, but Larry and I have spoken about that, and I’ve already told the Browns that we’ll be discussing at our October meeting whether we’re going to make any adjustment in our tampering rules in any phase that would take account of the Browns unique situation, but that I felt that if we change anything the 49ers should continue to be subject to our normal rules, given the fact that Carmen ran that team for so long. If we make changes, they wouldn’t apply to the 49ers."

(on if it concerns him that DeBartolo pleads guilty after this situation has dragged on for over a year) "It’s not for me to comment on, the criminal law process and the advice that Eddie DeBartolo gets from his attorneys. I can’t comment on that."

(on if he will determine the divisional alignment for the Browns at the October meetings) "I think we’ll decide it in the October meetings, and my guess would be that we’ll stay with the three divisions in the AFC, and that the AFC Central would have a sixth team. We have a scheduling formula that works on that basis. The concept of going to four divisions of four teams each in the AFC, I think owners are interested in that, but really as a precursor to going to 32 teams overall, so you would have four divisions in each conference potentially. This is on the agenda, but it will just be a start to discussion looking forward to expansion to 32 teams."

(on if he is in favor of having six teams in the AFC Central) "Yes, I think that makes the most sense now. On the six divisions versus eight divisions, it involves a lot, and I really don’t have a point of view on that one way or the other right now."

(on if Eddie DeBartolo has any recourse to speed up the NFL’s review process up in his attempt to get his team back) "I think that he expects to go along with whatever timetable we have."

(on if DeBartolo is pretty much outside looking in right now) "Yes."

(on if this matter has to be settled in the courts first) "I don’t know. I’m not going to speculate on what’s going to drive a relevant conclusion here. It depends on a lot of things."

(on if he could not begin to review if this matter is still active in the courts) "I don’t know. I’ve said that three times. I don’t know, "active in the courts", I don’t know what that means. He’s already entered a plea. His situation is being addressed by the judge. Where we go from there, depends on the review we undertake."