The marketing of Inter Milan soccer star Ronaldo was
     examined by Paul Betts of the FINANCIAL TIMES.  Inter Milan
     has sold more than 30,000 Ronaldo No. 10 T-shirts and the
     team now has a team catalogue of 50 branded items.  The
     team's gift shop, which had been open on game days only, is
     now open all week and has sold 2,000 Ronaldo shirts in the
     "past 12 days."  Betts wrote that the Brazilian star "has
     also been a phenomenal deal for Pirelli, the Italian tyre
     and cable company with a stake in Inter.  Pirelli is
     investing heavily in Brazil, where it will soon have its
     biggest tyre manufacturing plant, even larger than its
     Italian facilities.  What Pirelli is paying to have its name
     on Ronaldo's Inter shirt is peanuts, considering the
     exposure it gives the company in his home country."  Betts
     added that Ronaldo is "about to launch a new collection of
     sportswear sponsored by Nike" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 1/31).

          U.S. Speedskating "finally has found a heavyweight,
     cash-paying sponsor," after agreeing to a five-year, $1.2M
     sponsorship deal with IL-based Ameritech, according to
     Charles Gardner of the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.  Gardner
     reported that "it is the first major sponsorship landed" for
     the WI-based U.S. longtrack speedskating team.  The deal is
     with Ameritech and Security Link, a division of Ameritech 
     (Charles Gardner, MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 1/30).  

          Visa has signed a sponsorship agreement with the U.S.
     Cycling team "that gets its brand on the team's jerseys and,
     more importantly, gets it the rights to do more promotions
     with the team's other corporate supporters," according to
     Terry Lefton of BRANDWEEK.  The "biggest lure: the 33,000
     locations of the U.S. Postal Service, Visa's largest
     merchant client," which is also the team's title sponsor. 
     Sources described the one-year deal, with a renewal option,
     as "in the low to mid-six figures."  Lefton adds that Visa
     will also receive signage at races, official card status,
     tickets and hospitality, rights to athlete appearances and
     the ability to develop promos with Trek and the other team
     sponsors as well as the USPS (BRANDWEEK, 2/2 issue).