The ABL "has established a much-needed New York
     presence" by hiring Marty Rolnick as a new VP/Sponsorship, 
     and "enlisting" CT-based Clarion/Performance Properties to
     help it sell corporate sponsorship packages, according to
     Terry Lefton of BRANDWEEK.  Rolnick, who has sold ad time
     for ABC and Rainbow Sports, will aim "to sign additional
     sponsors" by the league's All-Star contest on January 17. 
     The ABL "has not sold a new sponsorship package since
     landing Nike" just prior to this season.  Clarion will help
     the ABL "refine its marketing strategy and is putting
     together a new video pitch for the league" (BRANDWEEK, 1/5).
          QB LOCKED: Lefton adds that Foot Locker has added title
     sponsorship of the annual NFL Quarterback Challenge skills
     competition to its recent sponsorship deals at Disney's Wide
     World of Sports complex.  Rival sneaker retailer FootAction
     "walked away" from sponsoring the Challenge after five
     years, "citing disappointing TV ratings" (BRANDWEEK, 1/5).
          ADD 1 NEW SHOE: PA-based AND 1 breaks a $1M, two-week
     TV campaign next week backing the latest version of its
     Stephon Marbury shoe, which hits retail January 16.  AND 1
     CEO Seth Berger: "This year should be telling as to whether
     we will be a niche player or a real force in athletic
     footwear."  The ad was produced by PA-based Brownstein Group
     and was underwritten by FootAction, which also gets plugged
     in the ad for the $85 shoes.  Media buys are "primarily" on
     ESPN and MTV, while print buys include NBA Inside Stuff, The
     Source and Slam (BRANDWEEK, 1/5 issue).

          Nike's entry into the sports-equipment business is
     profiled in a front-page story by Bill Richards of the WALL
     STREET JOURNAL.  Nike has been "pondering the physics of
     equipment such as baseball gloves and bats, hockey sticks,
     footballs, golf balls and snow boards," with its "mission
     ... to design something new and then throw Nike's awesome
     marketing muscle into convincing the world of its technical
     superiority."  Nike equipment division head Andrew Mooney
     said the unit "will be Nike's fastest-growing division," and
     other Nike execs say equipment sales "will become its 'third
     engine,' powering the flagging sneaker and apparel sales." 
     But Richards adds that Nike "is playing catch-up" against
     its rivals in the $40B-a-year equipment market as
     development of its lines has "been relatively modest so far
     compared with the big bucks being shelled out by
     competitors."  For example, Nike will spend less than
     $500,000 to design a baseball glove (WSJ, 1/6).
          HOCKEY HANG UPS? Nike's "assault on the equipment
     business" began with hockey in '96, when the company
     designed a lightweight skate and a stick.  But Richards
     reports that hockey "hasn't turned out to be the easy slap
     shot Nike expected.  Retailers ... say customers have been
     returning Nike's new hockey sticks, complaining the blades
     split because of poor glue."  Richards adds that "several
     high-profile [NHL] players have complained" that Nike's
     skates "are poorly designed," including Jeremy Roenick who
     "passed up a six-figure endorsement deal with Nike after he
     tried on six pairs of its skates and none fit right."  But
     Nike's Mooney "brushes off the early flops" in the equipment
     business as "growing pains."  Mooney: "Wait till you see our
     equipment in five years" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/6). 

          Local authorities "confiscated thousands of dollars of
     suspected illegal Packers and NFL merchandise over the
     weekend from a popular tavern" near Lambeau Field, according
     to Meg Jones of the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.  An NFL
     official called the bust "one of the largest of its kind." 
     Jones reports that while some items "looked like the real
     thing," there were some items "that were a sure tip-off. 
     Like a T-shirt featuring a caricature of ... Brett Favre
     urinating on a Chicago Bears helmet."  The street value of
     the merchandise was "estimated" at $10,000 to $15,000
     (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 1/6).  In a "similar action" Saturday in
     Pittsburgh, $30,000 "worth of unlicensed merchandise (about
     1,000 items) was seized" (USA TODAY, 1/6).
          

          NOTES: The Devil Rays are teaming with the J.C. Newman
     Cigar Co. to open a cigar bar at Tropicana Field.  The
     Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar will open in March, and will coincide
     with the introduction of a new cigar, the Cuesta-Rey Devil
     Ray cigar, that will be sold only at the stadium (MIAMI
     HERALD, 1/6)....Bob Kutz, co-Owner of CA-based Telegraph
     Avenue memorabilia shop, is giving away Latrell Sprewell
     trading cards.  Kutz: "We're getting great response.  People
     have torn them up right in front of us" (MERCURY NEWS, 1/3).
          DEALS: Campbell's Soup, a sponsor of the U.S. Figure
     Skating team, will feature Tara Lipinski, Michelle Kwan and
     Nicole Bobek on 140 million Campbell's Soup can labels in
     stores this month (USA TODAY, 1/6)....NY-based ANC Sports
     Enterprises signed a multi-year deal to serve as the
     exclusive supplier of rotating signage for Baltimore's new
     football stadium.  ANC will install more than 800-feet of
     its wall-mounted, backlit rotating signage throughout the
     stadium.  The deal is ANC's first with an NFL facility (ANC
     Sports)....The NPSL and KS-based Stromgren Supports reached 
     a two-year deal for Stromgren to become the exclusive
     supplier of sliding pants to NPSL teams.  Stromgren Supports
     will also serve as an official licensee (NPSL).

          MasterCard will issue one million "special" Pele
     affinity cards "as part of its marketing blitz" for the '98
     World Cup, according to Patrick Harverson of the FINANCIAL
     TIMES.  MasterCard "declines to say how much it pays Pele,
     but his fee for this World Cup is estimated to be in excess
     of" $1.5M.  The company claims Pele's appearances worldwide
     for MasterCard between '91-'94 generated four billion "media
     impressions" -- the total circulation and viewership of
     print articles and TV appearances (FINANCIAL TIMES, 12/22).

          With the Super Bowl 19 days away, and NBC's ad-time
     sold out, the advertising landscape is beginning to receive
     as much attention as which two teams will represent their
     respective conferences.  Donald Bruzzone of CA-based
     Bruzzone Research has studied every Super Bowl commercial
     since '92 and answered 11 questions on "Super Bowl ad myths"
     posed by USA TODAY's Bruce Horovitz.  Bruzzone said that
     "about" 61% of all Super Bowl ads "were somewhat or very
     ineffective," and that "while viewers liked most of the ads,
     they couldn't remember who they were for" (USA TODAY, 1/5).
          THE PLAYERS: H.J. Heinz plans two Super Bowl ketchup
     spots as part of its $20M advertising and marketing campaign
     for '98.  Heinz's spots show tomatoes "bouncing, shimmying
     and squeezing themselves into a ketchup bottle," before
     showing a child pouring ketchup onto a hamburger.  The ad
     ends with the tagline "Mine's Gotta Have Heinz" (WALL STREET
     JOURNAL, 1/5).....USA TODAY's Bruce Horovitz examined Pizza
     Hut's Super Bowl advertising.  Muhammad Ali "was lined up to
     star" in Pizza Hut's game spots, but the company is "putting
     Ali's ad on hold" in favor a campaign for its Edge pizza. 
     But some international franchises "want Ali now" as a
     spokesperson for the whole Pizza Hut brand; therefore,
     outside the U.S. -- in the U.K., Australia and Mexico -- the
     Ali ad will air later this month (USA TODAY, 1/5).