LOS ANGELES - The Dodgers won't sell the name of Dodger Stadium because it would compromise one of the most well- known brands in Major League Baseball, club president Jamie McCourt said.

"I can't even imagine it," McCourt, 53, said in an interview in New York. "I don't think you will ever see Dodger Stadium have any other name but Dodger Stadium."

Half of baseball's 30 teams play in stadiums with naming-rights agreements.

The Dodgers might be able to match the record $20 million a year that the Mets will get from Citigroup Inc. to call their new ballpark CitiField when it opens in 2009, said Marc Ganis, president of the Chicago-based marketing firm SportsCorp Ltd.

"They are a bridge to Latin America and the Pacific and they have one of the great brands in baseball," Ganis said.

The Mets' $20 million-a-year record soon might be surpassed by the New York Giants and Jets of the National Football League, who plan to sell the rights to their new East Rutherford, N.J., stadium that's scheduled to open in 2010. Ganis estimated that sale might fetch $25 million a year.

McCourt said the Dodgers would sell naming-rights sponsorships to portions of the stadium, such as parts of the grandstand.

CABLE DEAL FALLS SHORT: Cable television said it offered to match DirecTV's deal for the Extra Innings package of out-of-market games, but Major League Baseball claimed that the proposal fell short.

"We cannot put the interests of what we believe are a relatively small minority of fans over what we believe are the best interests of the entire fan base as a whole," Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission.

When baseball announced its seven-year, $700 million deal with DirecTV on March 8, it gave the other incumbent carriers until the end of the month to match the deal.

In Demand, owned by affiliates of the companies that own Time Warner, Comcast and Cox cable systems, said it was agreeing to the terms and that its partners would carry The Baseball Channel, when it launches in 2009, to at least the same number of subscribers who will get the channel on DirecTV.

"As the current home for Extra Innings for more than 200,000 cable subscribers, we have extended ourselves to do our best to be able to continue to provide this package to baseball fans and our customers," iN Demand president Robert Jacobson said.

DuPuy said that simply wasn't true.

"The communication sent to our office today by iN Demand is not responsive to that offer." DuPuy said the March 31 deadline to match remains.

"By rejecting this matching offer, MLB has proven it never intended for iN Demand to have a fair and equal opportunity to bid for Extra Innings, " Jacobson said later. "Our offer was fully responsive to MLB's requirements and public statements."

EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish Network also has carried the Extra Innings package. Dish spokeswoman Kathie Gon- zalez did not return a call seeking comment.

LIDLE TRIBUTE: The wife of late Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle might throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the team's April 2 season opener against Tampa Bay.

Lidle was killed Oct. 11 when his plane crashed into a Manhattan, N.Y., high-rise.

The Yankees said that talks were ongoing and that a decision to have Melanie Lidle throw out the ceremonial first pitch had not been finalized.

New York players will wear black armbands on the left sleeves of uniforms this season to honor the pitcher, who was 34.

REDS' WILSON RELEASED: Paul Wilson was released by the Reds, another setback as he tries to come back from shoulder surgery.

Wilson, a 34-year-old right- hander, was the Reds' Opening Day starter two years ago, coming off an 11-6 record in 2004. He was 1-5 with a 7.77 ERA in 2005 before surgery.

He had only four minor league appearances last season and had been ineffective in most of his appearances this spring training.