During ESPN's X-Games, currently being held in San
Diego through June 28, viewers can see corporate logos on
athletes' bibs, banners, "garage-sized balloons alongside
the play areas and anywhere else a network camera might
happen to pan," according to Frank Green of the SAN DIEGO
UNION-TRIBUNE. AT&T, Nike, Taco Bell, Mountain Dew,
Chevrolet and Coors, all Gold sponsors, are spending up to
$2M each, giving them "virtually unlimited rights to use the
event as a sales vehicle." Slim Jim, Snickers, Roller
Blades, Visa, Pringles, and the U.S. Marines Corps have each
spent about $900,000 for associate sponsorships. Green adds
that all sponsors will "enjoy additional exposure during an
X Games tour" to Las Vegas, New York City and 10 other
cities planned for early next month (UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/21).
ELECTRONIC MEDIA's Jim McConville writes that the X Games'
merchandising "has grown so large that it's now handled by
ESPN Enterprises." While there are tents set up on site to
sell merchandise, "the games' biggest ancillary business may
come from" the X Games' area on ESPN SportsZone, where
merchandise is available (ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 6/23 issue).
BLASPHEMY, DID THE X GAMES SELL OUT? In Miami, Barry
Jackson writes that ESPN has sold out all commercial time
for the event (MIAMI HERALD, 6/22). In San Francisco, Jake
Curtis writes that ESPN "claims the X Games deliver the most
male viewers (age 12-34) per household of any sporting event
on television." The "fact" that Wide World of Sports
covered some events "provides some affirmation of the
event's arrival, even if credibility as a sport may be
lagging" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 6/20). In San Diego, Fritz
Quindt: "[T]he more people buy into it, the X Games becomes
less of an X factor" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/20)....ESPN
was profiled in Sunday's UNION-TRIBUNE and Fritz Quindt
noted a Schroder, Wertheim & Co. report that ESPN had a
projected '96 profit margin of $550M. If ESPN, a subsidiary
of Walt Disney, were on Fortune's 500 list by itself, it
would rank No. 154 in profits (UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/22).
SURF IT, DUDE: CA-based DynoComm Sports has launched
extremesports.com. ESPN's X Games coverage is featured,
along with targeted promos to fans and sponsors of a variety
of extreme sports (DynoComm Sports).
