In Atlanta, Terrance Moore wrote about the Falcons'
marketing campaign, which features the tagline "Welcome
home, Coach Reeves." Moore: "Here is a general rule of
thumb: You can tell when those who run a professional sports
franchise suspect they'll produce more chumps than champs in
a given season when they build their entire promotional
campaign around the coach or the manager." Reeves, on the
billboards: "I'm not totally comfortable with it, but we all
sat down to discuss (the promotion) as an organization. I
said, 'If this is what we need to help us get to where we
should be, then fine'" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 8/16).
OILERS: As of last week, 18,451 tickets had been sold
for the NFL Oilers' regular-season opener at the Liberty
Bowl (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 8/17). The Oilers also have sold
9,800 season tickets and plan an advertising "blitz"
starting Monday, with a Memphis campaign focusing on single-
game and season-ticket sales (COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 8/17).
GIANTS: While either the Giants or the Univ. at Albany
could option out of their five-year training-camp deal, "it
appears the contract will run its course," according Vinny
DiTrani of the BERGEN RECORD. The only "snag" could be the
$160,000 costs for the school to accommodate the team's
needs for the month of camp. Sponsorship by the city in '96
and the Albany Times-Union newspaper this year have covered
the cost, but crowds at camp fell from 38,750 last year to
22,640 this summer. While the drop cut into the revenue the
newspaper had hoped to generate through its sponsorship,
Times-Union Publisher Timothy White said he still expects to
come close to breaking even (BERGEN RECORD, 8/16).
