SHOE NEWS: Puma, in what it calls the "year of the
cat," is "readying" a TV campaign for next year with an eye
on World Cup '98. Two of Puma's three spots, from PA-based
Gyro, will focus on soccer (Bradley Johnson, AD AGE, 10/13
issue)....Roy Disney's investment group Trefoil Capital sold
its 42% stake in L.A. Gear to CA-based PCH Investors for
$228,000, "a tiny fraction" of the $100M it invested six
years ago. Trefoil sold its 1.14 million preferred shares
for $.20 a share. Yesterday, L.A. Gear fell $0.50 on the
NYSE and closed at $1.25 (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/16).
DEALS: The MLBPA has signed up charter advertisers CBS
SportsLine and Netscape on its three-month-old site on the
World Wide Web, Bigleaguers.com. Banners for both are
expected to make their debut on the site before the start of
the World Series (BRANDWEEK, 10/13 issue)....USA TODAY's
Steve Ballard reports that McDonald's "did an about-face"
and decided to stay with Joe Gibbs' NHRA team. The one-year
agreement extends full sponsorship to Cory McClenathan and
partials to Cruz Pedregon and Jim Yates (USA TODAY, 10/16).
