Streetball Partners Int'l, who created Hoop-It-Up and Air-
It-Out, is "drawing new attention from investors as its sporting
events catch on across the country." According to a story in the
Southwest edition of the WALL STREET JOURNAL, sources familiar
with Streetball say "they expect General Electric Capital
Services to make an offer soon to acquire about 50%" of the
company from owner Terry Murphy and his partners. And, they say
Streetball "is ready to sell an ownership stake to an
unidentified party," a deal that could be closed within two
weeks. Supposedly, the negotiations with GE "aren't linked to
the offer for the ownership stake," and the deals don't "hinge"
on each other being completed. GE Capital's parent, GE Co. of
Fairfield, CT, already owns 30% to 40% of Streetball -- through
its NBC unit, and according to the sources close to Streetball,
"GE Capital would buy shares from the existing partners,
including NBC, thereby diluting NBC's stake."
EXISTING SPONSORS: If GE and the other unidentified party
go ahead with their offers, they would join such Hoop-It-Up
sponsors as AT&T Corp, Gatorade, and Champion Products. Each
pays about $500,000 as national sponsors. For the Air-It-Out
football games, Budweiser and Gatorade each pay a "similar"
amount to co-sponsor the event.
STREETBALL'S FUTURE: Now that they have been so successful
with the "grass-roots" basketball and football markets,
Streetball has started a Spike-It-Up volleyball competition which
traveled to 10 cities last year, and street hockey and golf
competitions will begin later this year (Jeff Opdyke, WALL STREET
JOURNAL-SW edition, 1/11).
