Giants rookie WR Ike Hilliard has signed a two-year
shoe endorsement deal with Converse worth $300,000, which
includes a signature shoe line. In N.Y., Mike Freeman wrote
that the deal "is the highest shoe contract signed by an
N.F.L. rookie, topping" Jets WR Keyshawn Johnson's multiyear
with adidas for $110,000 per (N.Y. TIMES, 7/20)....Budweiser
is "slated" to sponsor CART's first race in Japan on March
28, 1998, to be called the Budweiser 500 (INDIANAPOLIS STAR-
NEWS, 7/19)....Figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva has signed a
deal with Target that includes commercials, product
endorsements, in-store appearances and a starring role in a
holiday TV special (Target)....Fila's hard goods division
has signed Univ. of MD, OH State Univ., Univ. of ID and
Seton Hall to multiyear endorsement deals, which call for
the schools to use Fila basketballs on their home courts
(Fila)....AND 1 will outfit George Washington Univ. and
Grambling basketball teams this season. The deal includes a
new sleeveless shirt uniform design (AND 1)....Reebok closed
Friday on the NYSE up 1 13/16 at 49 1/2. Following its
second-quarter earnings report, Merrill Lynch upgraded
Reebok "from neutral to near-term accumulate" (PBS, 7/18).