NBC is setting a "blistering sales pace" for its coverage of
the '96 Games, having already struck ad deals totalling about
$500M.  Agency sources say when NBC reached the $500M level for
Barcelona coverage, "the network had cut deals with about 100
sponsors."  With Atlanta, NBC has accomplished the same sales
level with "only about 20-plus advertisers" (COWLES BUSINESS
MEDIA, 1/20).

     The IOC will whittle the list of nine candidates for the
2002 Winter Games down to four this week with Salt Lake City
"certain to make the cut."  Also likely: Ostersund, Sweden;
Quebec; and Sion, Switzerland.  However, Salt Lake organizers
seem to think they can win with their "offering of an urban
counterpoint to the quaint but remote settings of previous Winter
Games" (Jere Longman, N.Y. TIMES, 1/22).