Oilers Move One Giant Step Closer to a Tennessee Home

After 14 hours of negotiations, Houston Oiler owner Bud Adams and Astrodome Manager Drayton McLane Jr. reached a deal Thursday that probably will allow the NFL team to play in Tennessee this fall.

Adams and McLane worked for two days with a court-appointed mediator to resolve disputes over a canceled exhibition game in 1995 and the remaining year of the Oilers’ lease at the Astrodome.

Neither side would discuss details of the settlement, and the mediator said both sides agreed the discussions will remain confidential.

Adams, however, said he planned to have the Oilers train at Tennessee State in Nashville this summer. The team’s new permanent practice facility isn’t supposed to be ready until Aug. 15.

“The settlement includes the termination of the Oilers’ lease and the resolution of the lawsuit over the 1995 game,” Alice Oliver-Parrott, the mediator, said. “The settlement, however, has a number of conditions which will take time to be satisfied.”

Although the Oilers’ new stadium in Nashville won’t be finished until 1999, Adams fought to get out of his lease at the Astrodome early because he didn’t see any point to keeping the Oilers in Houston as a lame-duck team. The Oilers are expected to play at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis until the new stadium is ready.

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Former Pittsburgh Steeler cornerback Rod Woodson, who has spent the off-season rehabilitating his twice-repaired knee, plans to work out for NFL clubs after June 1.

Eugene Parker, Woodson’s agent, said the Cincinnati Bengals are among several teams planning to attend the workout. “His actions will do more than talking,” Parker said. “I think that will clear up a lot of questions.”

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Miami Dolphin wide receiver O.J. McDuffie underwent surgery to repair a double hernia and is expected to be ready for the start of training camp in July, the team said. . . . Quarterback Pat Barnes, the Kansas City Chiefs’ fourth-round pick in this year’s draft, signed a three-year contract. Barnes passed for 7,047 yards, with 51 touchdowns and 26 interceptions at California. . . . Wide receiver Eric Metcalf signed a one-year contract with the San Diego Chargers. Terms were not released. . . . Joel Segal was suspended from representing NFL players for a year by the NFL Players Assn. for for providing money under an assumed name to a Florida State player in 1993.

Tennis

Thomas Muster suffered one of his most lopsided defeats on clay, 6-1, 6-2, to Hicham Arazi in the third round of the $2-million German Open at Hamburg.

Arazi will next play 12th-seeded Felix Mantilla, who defeated eighth-seeded Boris Becker, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, frustrating the crowd favorite with passing shots and service returns.

Second-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat Slava Dosedel, 6-2, 6-1, to reach his first quarterfinal of the year.

Mark Woodforde advanced to the quarterfinals of America’s Red Clay Tennis Championship when second-seeded Petr Korda retired complaining of dizziness and fatigue brought on by flu in Coral Springs, Fla.

In a match delayed for hours by rain, Mary Pierce defeated top-seeded Monica Seles, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6), to reach the quarterfinals of the Italian Open, played on clay in Rome.

Martina Hingis told the French sports daily L’Equipe that she is optimistic about making her return after a knee injury at the French Open starting May 26.

Miscellany

Jorgen Jonsson’s late goal and Tommy Salo’s goaltending helped Sweden beat the Czech Republic, 1-0, to reach the finals of the World Hockey Championships at Helsinki, Finland. The other finalist in the best-of-three series starting Sunday will be determined in today’s game between Canada and Russia. . . . Zhou Yilin of China won the one-meter springboard diving championship in the USA Diving Grand Prix at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Troy Dumais of Venice finished third.

San Jose State will drop men’s gymnastics and tennis as intercollegiate sports and reinstate men’s cross country, the school announced. . . . Georgia Tech basketball star Matt Harpring announced he will remain at school for his senior season. . . . Italian ski champion Alberto Tomba was fined $5,900 for throwing a glass trophy at a photographer during an awards ceremony at Bolzano, Italy. . . . Ivens Mendes, the head of Brazil’s Committee of Soccer Referees, has resigned amid accusations that he used his office to tamper with the results of games and to extort clubs for political campaign contributions.

Seventy countries, regions and territories, including reclusive North Korea, have said they intend to participate in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. . . . Chris Oeding and Chris Humbert had two goals each as the U.S. national team beat Australia, 6-5, in the Newport International Water Polo Tournament at Corona del Mar.