MCNAIR GROUP STILL STANDS OUT.

Byline: BOB KEISSER

When it comes to determining which millionaire or billionaire will be invited to join the NFL's most-exclusive ownership fraternity, the league can be as dogged as a probation officer.

There are checkpoints every few miles on the road to acceptance, and the detail work rivals anything your local FBI could muster. If the league were as vigilant about its background checks of players, there would be a lot less police notices around the league.

But the league is dealing with a billion-dollar industry here, not some nickel back who majored in breaking and entering. It will offer no apology for its pending financial strip search of the three parties seeking an expansion franchise - Michael Ovitz, the Ed Roski/Eli Broad Coliseum partnership and Houston businessman Robert McNair.

The league's expansion committee will meet Thursday in Miami, site of Sunday's Super Bowl, and get an update on where each group stands in its bid for a 32nd expansion franchise. That meeting will be followed by a special league meeting in February, all leading to some kind of action at the annual March owners meetings in Phoenix.

Here's an update on the three groups:

Ovitz/Carson: Beyond some pretty stadium sketches and one public appearance by Ovitz, the former Hollywood agent, this proposal has been cloaked in secrecy. Ovitz's rivals say that's because there's nothing behind the curtain.

No one on the well-healed list of prospective minority owners has stepped forward publicly. If Ovitz is to be the 30 percent man, he'll need $150 million of his own money. While his severance check at Disney was substantial, much of it came in the form of stock options subject to the whims of Wall Street.

Details of the partnership Ovitz has with real estate man Hebert Glimcher, who holds the option on the property and plans to build the adjacent mall, are still sketchy, too. How will the league assess his role in the project, and will it change the way the league looks at Ovitz?

Sources say the league is also concerned about Carson's $180 million contribution via bonds, since the proposal includes a mall as well as the stadium. It would like to see more direct revenue. For what it's worth, the city of Carson is still waiting for paperwork from Ovitz that fleshes out the city's role and potential revenue.

New Coliseum, Roski/Broad: The addition of billionaire Eli Broad to the New Coliseum team as the 30 percent front man was a response to NFL concerns that Roski, the Kings owner and man behind the Staples Center, was overextended.

``Indirectly, I understand the NFL was very happy to hear (about Broad),'' Roski said last week. ``If we hadn't done this, there would have been a question in their minds.''

Roski's Majestic Reality is one of the largest real estate concerns in Southern California, but his equity there wouldn't have mattered when the NFL came looking for a check. Now, Roski can focus on financing stadium construction against his equity.

Broad is no figurehead: He plans to run the franchise. But the league will need time to investigate his involvement. Plus, the Coliseum group is still claiming it can raise $100 million through PSLs. The league is dubious, to the degree that it has hired Max Muhelman to assess the PSL potential in Los

Angeles for both groups.

Houston: The McNair group has all of its financial ducks in a row. McNair recently sold a company for $1.6 billion. He's been through the process with the NFL, because he investigated buying the Miami Dolphins before Wayne Huizenga.

The Houston Sports Authority (HSA) already has approved its investment in stadium construction, around $195 million of a $310 million budget, financed by tax surcharges on tickets, hotels and rental cars.

The county has also donated the land involved; the PSL threshold has been set at $50 million; and the HSA already has booked other events into the stadium guaranteeing $35 million in revenue.

``We are very fluid,'' said Steve Patterson, a spokesman for the McNair group. ``All of the details about public investment are there, and there may be another $200 million available. We don't have any environmental questions.

``I don't know what the league thinks, but I've heard people say the other groups have holes and don't have their financing together. All I know is that every time we ask the league if they have any questions, they say we're there.''

At least until someone finds another question to ask tomorrow.