NBA'S ALL STAR BASH: AN UNPARALLELED CORPORATE JAM

     The NBA's All Star Weekend has been "transformed into a
megabucks marketing event" where "the real name of the game is
marketing and selling," writes Karen Hunter in the N.Y. DAILY
NEWS.  Hunter profiles the NBA's strategy for All-Star Weekend,
noting that "fan-friendly" changes four years ago have also
brought in big dollars.  Hunter adds the NBA's strategy of making
a sponsorships difficult to attain has made "an NBA marketing
package one of the most coveted in sports" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS,
2/5).  In San Antonio this morning, Charlotte-Anne Lucas profiles
the Jam session and the corporate involvement by San Antonio's
Coca-Cola Bottling Co., which distributed most of the 12,000
tickets to low-income youth (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 2/6).
Estimates on economic impact for the city from All-Star Weekend
are about $40M (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 2/4).