Bally's Health & Tennis Corp. will sponsor the Women's
Professional Volleyball Association's Women's Pro Beach
Volleyball Tour.  Bally's will be title sponsor for three of the
14 events on the tour, including the "Bally Total Fitness
National Championship" in August.  The agreement includes TV
exposure, court-side signage, and media buys on CBS Sports and
Prime Network.  Throughout the tour, both networks will also
feature "Bally Total Fitness Profile" which will highlight WPVA
player's fitness routines with Bally's health clubs as the
primary venue for the segments.  Bally's will also receive an
"Event Expo" marketing booth where spectators can be fitness
tested and receive trial membership to Bally's (Bally's).

     Ads for Franklin Sports featuring Cal Ripken and Barry
Bonds, which began running recently on ESPN, are giving Ripken
"some rare national commercial exposure as he begins his drive"
to break Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games record.  Ripken, who has
"often appeared in local commercials," has been "seldom seen in
national" ads.  But his representatives said endorsement
opportunities for the All-Star shortstop "have risen as he nears
the record."  Today, pro basketball players are the "athletes of
choice" in national ads, and talent agencies blame the recent
baseball strike and the game's "languid pace" that "alienates
many younger viewers."  Franklin and its ad agency, Arnold
Fortuna Lawner & Cabot Inc. of Boston said the Ripken/Bonds ad
will run through May (Skip Wollenberg, AP/SAN FRANCISCO
CHRONICLE, 5/3).

     The Raptors announced their first charitable grant of
$750,000 over the next five years to help children with bleeding
disorders.  The money will be provided by corporate sponsor,
Bayer Inc., and will go to the Canadian Hemophilia Society of
Montreal (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 5/3)....The Metro Atlantic
Athletic Conference signed a multi-year marketing and
representation agreement with Host Communications
(SportsTicker)....Scoreboard Memories and the NSGA will partner
during the NSGA World Sports Expo.  Scoreboard Memories, which
produces personalized messages on scoreboards at stadiums and
arenas, will give proceeds from the Expo to the anti-drug, anti-
gang program, Hooked On Sports (NSGA)....Corporate Sports America
is sponsoring its first corporate tennis team championships
September 16 at La Costa Resort in CA.  CSA plans to hold the
tournament annually featuring competition between players
representing area businesses (SAN DIEGO DAILY TRANSCRIPT,
5/2)....Coors will begin selling Coors Red Light, an amber-
colored, lower-calorie beer on Monday.  Foote, Cone & Belding
will design a TV and outdoor ad campaign (WALL STREET JOURNAL,
5/3).... Sandy Koufax- autographed yarmulkes are being sold for
$75 by B & J Collectibles in Lakewood, NJ (N.Y. POST, 5/3).

     Despite "a continuing struggle" in their restaurant
businesses, PepsiCo reported "strong" first quarter earnings that
exceeded Wall Street estimates and led to the company's highest
stock price in more than a year, according to this morning's N.Y.
TIMES.  The report, which had overall net earnings up 28% and
operating profits up 14.3%, led to a $1 increase for Pepsi stock
on the NYSE yesterday.  Pepsi continues to do well in snack food
and beverages, "but the restaurants are not a boon to them,"
according to Jesse Meyers, publisher of The Beverage Digest.
Mountain Dew and Pepsi "led the company's domestic soft-drink
segment" and  Lipton teas and other non-carbonated's grew 25%.
Also strong were Frito Lay snack products, up 17%.  But despite
two "splashy product introductions" of the stuffed crust at Pizza
Hut, and Border Lights at Taco Bell, analyst Ron Paul said
PepsiCo "still can't seem to get all of its three restaurant
businesses going together at the same time,"  (Glenn Collins,
N.Y. TIMES, 5/3).  Salomon Brothers' Andrew Conway: "They're
moving out of the woods, but the restaurant issues aren't behind
them" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/3).

     Ryka Inc. CEO Sheri Poe is "scrambling to find investors who
can save it from possible bankruptcy" after L.A. Gear withdrew
from a $164.M acquisition deal last week.  Poe:  "We are getting
a lot of calls.  There are quite a few opportunities."  Poe is
also under fire for "her management style" and charges from
several Ryka employees that her "desire for personal gain were at
odds with her image as a crusader for women's causes."  Poe, who
has used her history as a rape victim to attract attention to the
company, formed Ryka in '87 with the philosophy of women gaining
empowerment through fitness (Chris Reidy, BOSTON GLOBE, 5/3).