Commish Backs Clancy

National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue ruled that former Vikings owner Roger Headrick doesn’t have the right to match novelist Tom Clancy’s $206 million bid to buy the team.

The purchase had been delayed when Headrick claimed that Clancy’s initial offer gave him the right to match and made an appeal to the commissioner.

Tagliabue ruled that since the former owners, Viking Ventures, agreed to sell the entire team rather than a partnership interest, Headrick lost his right to match.

The Patriots Thursday signed Brian Stablein to a three-year contract worth $3 million, ostensibly to replace wide receiver Vincent Brisby, who could be traded soon.

Brisby was told to report to camp in case New England couldn’t deal him.

One day after Carolina lost safety Chad Cota to the New Orleans Saints through free agency, the Panthers replaced him with Brent Alexander, an unrestricted free agent with the Arizona Cardinals.

Alexander, 26, led Arizona’s secondary last year with a career-high 109 tackles.

After negotiating a $3.8 million contract with the Saints, free-agent linebacker Andre Royal was arrested early Wednesday for allegedly failing to pay his bill at a Bourbon Street strip joint.

Royal was not required to post bond and was released from the Orleans Parish Prison at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Royal is a restricted free agent, which gives the Panthers seven days - until 11 p.m. March 26 - to match the Saints’ offer.