SEATTLE'S FULL HOUSE TAKES NEW APPROACH TO SELLING KEY ARENA

     The corporate consumption of the sports world -- "where
everything is for sale" -- is analyzed by Tom Farrey of the
SEATTLE TIMES.  Farrey reports the NBA has been the most
aggressive in pursuing corporate sponsorship for arena
advertising and naming rights and "few franchises are doing it
with more precision that the SuperSonics, who have taken the rare
step of creating a separate company, Full House Sports &
Entertainment, that specializes in corporate sponsorship."  Full
House is in the process of selling arena advertising for the
renovated Key Center, through which the Sonics could make more
than $5M.  Each corner in the new arena will feature an 80-foot
high "media pole."  Full House adds that the new arena "will have
fewer ad panels than other NBA facilities.  But because of the
ability to get their message across amid less clutter, sponsors
are willing to pay more for the advertising" (SEATTLE TIMES,
2/27).