BACK IN BLACK: ADIDAS TO SPONSOR NEW ZEALAND RUGBY TEAM

          adidas signed a "record-breaking deal" yesterday with
     the All Blacks New Zealand Rugby Squad, a five-year package
     "believed to be worth more than" the $45M offered by Nike,
     according to Patrick Harverson of the FINANCIAL TIMES.  The
     New Zealand Rugby Football Union described the deal "as the
     largest world rugby had ever seen."  In the partnership,
     adidas will supply sports equipment, footwear, clothing and
     accessories to the All Blacks while also becoming their
     principal sponsor.  The deal begins in '99.  The squad's
     current sponsor is Canterbury Int'l, which has the right to
     match the offer, but Harverson writes that it "does not have
     the resources to compete with the big manufacturers." 
     Harverson writes that winning the All Blacks contract was
     important to adidas "because if it had lost out to Nike it
     would have given" Nike "rugby's four biggest names" as Nike
     currently has deals with Rugby teams in Australia, South
     Africa and the UK (FINANCIAL TIMES, 10/21).