With six of the week's 11 sessions sold out, the final
attendance for the Nuveen Masters seven days of tennis in
Naples, FL, was 37,312 -- a new record. The previous Nuveen
record was the '96 Citibank Champions in N.Y., with 35,936
(NAPLES NEWS, 3/9)....In N.Y., Ira Berkow covered Game Four
of the ABL Championships under the header, "A.B.L. Has
Nonstop, Hard-Nosed Action" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/10)....Aetna U.S.
Healthcare will sponsor a Philadelphia PGA Tour event in
August, the $300,000 Aetna U.S. Healthcare Classic (PHILA.
INQUIRER, 3/9)....In Raleigh, Gerald Martin of the NEWS &
OBSERVER examines Bruton Smith and his growing auto racing
empire. Martin: "[A]t some point, he and his kingdom will
break away from NASCAR and ... form a separate sanctioning
body, a rival to NASCAR. ... Meanwhile, as more tracks are
built and as more die, as more and more tracks change hands,
it is very evident that ownerships and alignments are
forming solidly on two fronts: the [NASCAR] France front and
the Smith front" (NEWS & OBSERVER, 3/9)....After his report
on women's boxing on HBO's "Real Sports," Larry Merchant
said, "We don't know yet whether this is just a gimmick or
it's a sport" ("Real Sports," HBO, 3/10).
