REACTION TO REEBOK'S BARNSTORMING BASEBALL TOUR

     As reported in this week's BRANDWEEK, Reebok Int'l confirmed
that it has offered to sponsor the proposed "barnstorming tour"
of striking baseball players.  The MLBPA's executive board will
consider Reebok's reported $25M offer at its next meeting,
January 31 in Washington (Ronald Blum, AP/FT. WORTH STAR-
TELEGRAM, 1/24).  Paul Molitor: "It could be something similar to
Gretzky's tour of Europe, although I'm not sure this one would go
abroad."  According to agent Tony Attanasio, a setup involving
four teams of all-stars who would play round-robin tourneys in 15
cities has been discussed (Mike Zeisberger, TORONTO SUN, 1/24).
Nike VP/Public Relations Keith Peters said his company will not
try to sideline its endorsers from participating: "When we were
trying to stage an all-star series last fall, we hoped it would
truly be all-stars, including Frank Thomas"   -- a Reebok
endorser (Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY, 1/24).