Inside The NFL

ELWAY'S DILEMMA

John Elway wishes the decision would come easily. He wishes he
could wake up one of these mornings, look out into the dawn and
get some kind of divine sign--any sign--that tells him what he
should do. Instead, he agonizes.

A few weeks ago Elway, who will turn 38 on June 28, set June 1
as his deadline for deciding whether to retire or return for a
16th season with the Super Bowl champion Broncos. But Denver
coach Mike Shanahan has urged Elway to take more time if he
needs it, and he may. Interviews with confidants and colleagues
last week--Elway says he won't discuss the issue until he
reaches a decision--painted a picture of a man in a dilemma. A
lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Elway is clearly tired
of the NFL rat race, but he's torn between going out on top and
risking returning for one more season and not playing at the
highest level.

Other than the Browns' Otto Graham in 1955 and the Eagles' Norm
Van Brocklin in 1960, no Hall of Fame quarterback has led a team
to an NFL championship and then quit. "If I talk to him three
days in a row," says Marvin Demoff, Elway's agent, "he's feeling
three different ways. He's struggling with this, really
struggling."

One Elway friend says John's wife, Janet, and his father, Jack,
began a recent dinner discussion on opposite sides of the
retirement issue. By the time dinner was over, the two had
flip-flopped positions, and the talk had done nothing to help
John with his decision. "I know John better than anyone,"
Shanahan said last weekend, "and believe me, he doesn't know
what he's going to do."

For his part, Shanahan says that if his star quarterback doesn't
return, he will be comfortable going with untested Jeff Lewis or
well-worn Bubby Brister in '98. Although he wouldn't rule out
signing an experienced backup, Shanahan says that you can forget
about the notion of the Broncos' picking up the Ravens' Vinny
Testaverde or the Jets' Neil O'Donnell if either should become
available on or after June 1. That's the date on which clubs can
release players without having all of the remainder of their
prorated signing bonuses count against this season's salary cap.

Brett Favre has met with Elway four times since the Broncos
upset his Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. Two weeks ago, while in
Fort Worth shooting a commercial with Favre, Troy Aikman and
Jerry Rice, Elway knocked on Favre's trailer door and came in to
shoot the breeze. According to Favre, the conversation went
something like this:

Elway: "If I had to play tomorrow, I honestly don't know if I'd
want to."

Favre: "You're still on top of your game. Play, man!"

Elway: "But if I play and screw up, I'd be going out on the
bottom, not the top."

Favre: "You've got to do what you want to do. But you're fun to
watch. You've still got it in you."

"Troy and I both told him to play," Favre says. "We've all won
Super Bowls. We know what it's like the year after to go through
it again, trying to repeat. It's a bitch. I don't know what
John's going to do. But I honestly think he's scared that if he
quits, he might want to come back in a year. He's worried about
leaving now and saying later, 'Damn, I had another year in me.'"

Money is not the issue. Since entering the league in 1983, Elway
has made more than $100 million from football and outside
business interests. He's due to make $6.25 million if he plays
this season, but how many more trust funds for unborn
grandchildren does one man need?

No, this is about what Elway wants to do with the rest of his
life. Playing football is his only passion. At most, he is
mildly curious about a career in broadcasting. He's made a
fortune outside of football. He and a partner sold their string
of Colorado car dealerships for about $82.5 million in stock
last year.

What leads us to believe he will play? A few things: 1) He's a
team guy, and he knows his retirement would be a double whammy
for the Broncos; Pro Bowl left tackle Gary Zimmerman has told
the team that if Elway retires, he will do the same. 2) Although
Denver owner Pat Bowlen is not pressuring him to play, Elway
could help sustain the momentum for Bowlen's stadium initiative,
which could appear on a November ballot. 3) He's working out
four days a week at the Broncos' complex.

Janet and the couple's four kids want him to play, but they've
also told John, Do what you want.

Easier said than done.

Ovitz's Mission
LET'S MAKE A DEAL IN L.A.

NFL owners love the vision of former Hollywood superagent
Michael Ovitz, who badly wants to own a team in Los Angeles.
Last month Ovitz wowed league officials and influential owners
with his stadium plan. Modeled after Carolina's Ericsson
Stadium, the facility would be designed with features befitting
a Southern California mission, all the way down to the bells
that would sit atop the structure and toll each time the home
team scored. The proposed stadium site, in the southern
industrial suburb of Carson, sits hard by the 10-lane San Diego
Freeway. One small problem: The structure would be built on or
next to a hazardous waste dump.

Nevertheless, the NFL would rather have its 32nd
franchise--Ovitz is pushing for an expansion team to begin play
in 2002--at this site and in the hands of Ovitz's deep-pocketed
investment group than in downtown L.A. and in the hands of civic
leaders, which is one of several other alternatives.

Dispatches
MCCOMBS THE MAN FOR VIKINGS

In the wake of author Tom Clancy's failed attempt to purchase
the Vikings, the team's owners are reopening the bidding. The
most attractive candidate seems to be San Antonio businessman
Red McCombs, who is a former owner of the NBA Nuggets and Spurs
and is worth an estimated $940 million. McCombs finished third
in the bidding for the club last time, owns the company that
owns the Fox affiliate in the Twin Cities, is prepared to pay
cash for the franchise and has suggested that he considers the
Vikings too much of a Minneapolis institution to move the
franchise....

Heath Shuler will challenge for the Saints' starting quarterback
job without feeling in some of his left foot, a lingering side
effect from surgery to remove a small, shattered bone in the
ball of the foot. "I'm still faster than half the quarterbacks
in the league," Shuler says. Speed has never been the issue with
Shuler, who needs to improve his accuracy if he expects to wrest
the job from Billy Joe Hobert....

Leading African-American NFL coaches were cautiously optimistic
that last week's job-enrichment seminar, held in conjunction
with the league's spring meeting, would help enhance assistants'
chances of getting head-coaching jobs. The league has only three
black head coaches, and the last 18 top positions have gone to
whites. Included on the agenda was a reception with team owners.
"The progress made here--to be able to meet and talk to some
owners--was significant," says Steelers offensive coordinator
Ray Sherman, who had a lengthy chat at the reception with
Panthers owner Jerry Richardson. "I don't want to be handed
anything. But networking can change things."

For more NFL news from Peter King and David Fleming, go to
www.cnnsi.com.

COLOR PHOTO: TIM DEFRISCO TOUGH CALL The arm is fine--the question is whether Elway's heart is still in the game. [John Elway passing in game]

COLOR PHOTO: JOHN IACONO NEW FOOTING Shuler might be a tad slower when he vies for the Saints' starting job. [Heath Shuler being tackled in game]