PRO FOOTBALL : DAILY REPORT : TODAY’S GAMES : AROUND THE NFL : Cardinals Linked to Chicago Now

Chicago, struggling over facilities with the Bears, says it will do all it can to keep a pro football team in town--even if that team is the Arizona Cardinals.

“We’re still trying to convince the Bears to stay, but we’ll keep our options open,” an unidentified mayoral aide told the Chicago Tribune.

The newspaper reported Friday that city officials have talked secretly with the Cardinals about moving back if the Bears leave for Gary, Ind. The team left Chicago for St. Louis in 1960, and then moved to Arizona.

Cardinal spokesman Paul Jensen said there was no substance to the Chicago talk.

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A Feb. 12 trial date was set for Cleveland’s lawsuit seeking a permanent order blocking the Browns from moving to Baltimore until their Cleveland Stadium lease expires in 1998. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Kenneth Callahan last month issued a temporary order barring the Browns from moving until a trial could be held. . . . Mayors from NFL cities across the country ended a two-day conference in Cleveland with plans to look for new ways to quell the dollar-driven wanderlust of pro sports franchises, saying they hope the more city leaders learn, the less they will be willing to engage in a cutthroat competition for franchises. “I don’t think [the late Green Bay coach] Curly Lambeau or [Bear founder] George Halas intended the league to be what it is today,” Green Bay Mayor Paul Jadin said. “I don’t think the fans in Green Bay can start hating the Gary Bears the way they hate the Chicago Bears.”