Stadium Proposals Soundly Defeated

Voters in Pittsburgh overwhelmingly rejected a sales tax boost Tuesday to build two stadiums, and Minneapolis voters demanded a say before multimillion-dollar sports projects even start.

Residents of 11 southwestern Pennsylvania counties rejected a half-cent sales tax hike proposed to finance stadiums for baseball’s Pirates and football’s Steelers.

“Maybe we didn’t tell the message right, maybe we waited too long to get our message out,� said Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, who supported the tax increase.

With votes counted from 98% of Allegheny County’s 1,309 precincts, the referendum trailed by a 3-2 margin. Returns from other counties were even more lopsided.

In Minneapolis, voters overwhelmingly approved a change in the city charter that will require a citywide vote before more than $10 million in taxpayer money is spent on a sports project. With 98% of precincts reporting, the change was approved 70% to 30%.

The baseball Twins and football Vikings play in the Metrodome.

Tennis

Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Enqvist, expected to lead Sweden in the Davis Cup final against the United States this month, won their opening matches in the Stockholm Open.

Bjorkman, whose climb from 69th at the start of the year to fourth is one of the most impressive in ATP rankings history, led, 6-4, 5-2, when Germany’s Marc Goellner retired because of a hip injury. Enqvist, the two-time defending champion, beat Magnus Norman, 7-5, 6-3.

Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic upset fourth-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, 6-2, 6-4, in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. The loss cost Kuerten a spot in the ATP Tour Championships next week in Germany.

Monica Seles, playing her first match in six weeks, overcame Polish teenager Magdalena Grzybowska, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, before a hostile Chicago crowd to advance to the quarterfinals of the Ameritech Cup.

College Basketball

Pacific drew all 12 first-place votes in the coaches’ poll and 45 of the 46 votes in the writers’ poll--Long Beach State had the other--in the Big West Conference’s Western Division at media day and far outpointed the Eastern favorites Nevada and New Mexico State.

A doctor has recommended that former New Mexico State coach Neil McCarthy, scheduled to begin a new job at the school this week, remain on sick leave indefinitely because of stress-related illness.

Miscellany

Roy Jones Jr. will relinquish his World Boxing Council light-heavyweight title rather than defend it against Michael Nunn in a bout not televised by HBO-TVKO, according to his promotional company. . . . Jurors deliberated only four minutes in a Houston courtroom before clearing free-agent third baseman Wade Boggs of civil assault in a profanity-laced verbal encounter with Continental Airlines flight attendant Karen Plympton in 1996. . . . A confidential settlement was finalized in a lawsuit accusing Chicago White Sox slugger Albert Belle of injuring a Halloween heckler with his truck. . . . Alexis Lalas, a star of the U.S. World Cup soccer team in 1994, signed with the Ecuadorean team Emelec in Guayaquil. Lalas will join the team Nov. 23.