Converse has signed the ABL's Teresa Edwards to a
     multi-year endorsement contract. In addition to wearing the
     Converse All Star Legend basketball shoe, Edwards will serve
     as a company spokesperson/endorser.  Her responsibilities
     will include retail appearances, product design consultation
     and other duties to promote Converse products.  Terms of the
     agreement were not disclosed (Converse).  Edwards is
     player/coach for the ABL's Atlanta Glory (THE DAILY).

          Fila USA yesterday announced global marketing
     partnership agreements with the NBA and the WNBA at a press
     conference in New York.  Under the agreement, Fila has the
     right to use players in official NBA and WNBA uniforms in
     its advertising and promotions.  Fila will also advertise on
     NBA and WNBA telecasts.  Fila also officially announced a
     multi-year deal with Nikki McCray and will develop a
     signature women's basketball shoe for her to be launched
     during the summer of '98.  McCray will also be featured in
     advertising during WNBA telecasts (Fila).  McCray's deal is
     reportedly for $1M over four years (THE DAILY).
          

          LEAGUE NOTES: Topps Trading Cards and Reebok/Just For
     Feet stores will offer NFL fans the chance to vote players
     to the Pro Bowl.  Topps will include Pro Bowl ballots in
     every pack of its Stadium Club football cards, while Reebok
     will sponsor balloting at 70 Just For Feet stores through
     November (NFL)....MLB, the Orioles, Indians, Braves, Marlins
     and local law enforcement announced yesterday they will
     crack down on the sale of counterfeit merchandise during the
     LCS and World Series (MLB).
          PEOPLE: MA-based agent Neil Abbott told THE DAILY that
     Coyotes C Jeremy Roenick has switched from Nike skates back
     to its Bauer brand out of "personal preference."  Abbott:
     "Jeremy's been wearing Bauer basically his whole life. ...
     He was not able to achieve the kind of comfort level with
     the skate that Nike had developed for him" (THE DAILY).    
     ...Magic Johnson has signed a three-part agreement with BIG
     Entertainment to develop textbooks, children's books,
     novels, and action figure cartoon characters with special
     appeal to children (BIG Entertainment)....Wayne Gretzky "has
     offered to buy a Cadillac" for Rangers teammate Kevin
     Stevens if Stevens switches to Hespeller sticks, a hockey
     company Gretzky recently invested in (USA TODAY, 10/8).
          GENERAL: NY-based Active Apparel Group, Inc. has named
     NY-based Makovsky & Co. Inc., for strategic investor
     relations counsel.  Active Apparel designs, markets and
     supplies women's, girl's and unisex activewear, sportswear
     and accessories, and sells its product under the Everlast,
     Converse All Star and MTV's The Grind brand names (Active
     Apparel Group)....Cycle Sport Int'l, manager of the
     professional Nautilus/Barracuda Mountain Bike team, has
     named CT-based The Marment Group as its sponsorship sales
     representatives (The Marment Group)....Corel VP/Marketing
     Kim Dixon reiterated the company will continue to sponsor
     the Senators, despite dropping its sponsorship of the WTA
     Tour: "We love the Corel Centre.  This is a separate
     contract (from the WTA) and it will not change."  Senators
     VP/Sales Mark Bonneau said that Corel is the team's second-
     largest corporate sponsor (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 10/9). 

          Tommy Hilfiger and Nike were tops in the competition
     for "coolest" clothing brands among teens, according to a
     survey conducted by the NY-based Zandl Group. Zandl, who has
     tracked teen fashion trends for 10 years, surveyed 100 teens
     between the ages of 13-17 for the study.  The study rates
     clothing in three categories: The coolest, becoming cooler
     and losing their cool.  Tommy Hilfiger's "bold colored
     fashions sporting large Hilfiger logos" took the top slot in
     the "becoming cooler" category and came in second in the
     "coolest" category.  Zandl Group President Irma Zandl
     attributes Hilfiger's rising popularity "in part to its hip
     hop connection."  Nike took first place in the "coolest"
     category, in part Zandl said, because "teens respond to high
     profile athletes in advertising" (REUTERS, 10/9).