In Brief: Nat City CEO Joins Would-Be NFL Buyers

David A. Daberko, chairman and chief executive officer of $81 billion-asset National City Corp., has joined a group of local investors who are hoping to acquire the Cleveland Browns football team.

Mr. Daberko joins seven other Cleveland businessmen in Cleveland Sports Ventures, which would own 20% to 25% of the team.

A spokesman for the investor group said the National Football League is accepting bids for what would be a new franchise in 1999. It will allow potential buyers to make presentations at a meeting in Dallas on July 28, with a decision expected by Labor Day, the spokesman said. The city's previous team left after the 1995 season and is now known as the Baltimore Ravens.

Howard Milstein, a New York real estate executive and co-chairman of $6 billion-asset Emigrant Savings Bank, is the leader of the group. He would be the principal owner with 75% to 80% of the team. "Together we plan to build a championship team for Cleveland," Mr. Daberko said in a statement. "I am proud to be part of it."