The EMC Golf Skills Challenge will expand to the 
     international market with the creation of the EMC Golf
     Skills European Challenge.  MA-based Woolf Golf orchestrated
     the sponsorship association for EMC, which will be the title
     sponsor of the event when it debuts May 18 at the Wentworth
     Club outside of London.  The announcement was made jointly
     by NBC Sports Ventures and TX-based Streetball Partners
     Int'l, which will own and operate the Wentworth event.  The
     event will be sanctioned by the European PGA Tour and U.K.-
     based NBC Supersports will handle event sponsorship packages
     and coordinate int'l TV coverage and syndication (Woolf).
          EMC SQUARED: EMC, which saw revenues of $2.94B in '97,
     is "embracing golf as a vehicle for delivering its branding
     message," according to BRANDWEEK's Tobi Elkin, who examines
     EMC's sponsorship of the Skills Challenge in its "Brand
     Builders" section.  Last year's golf event helped EMC close
     $25-$30M in business, and gave the company a platform to
     break a new TV spot that "helped illustrate the connection
     between information and golf."  Phil Sloan, Woolf Associates
     Managing Director/Marketing, said that in addition to the
     new European event, plans "are to explore an event in the
     Far East" in 1999, "at the earliest" (BRANDWEEK, 3/30).

          The NCAA Div. I Men's Hockey Championship begins its
     Final Four weekend today at the FleetCenter in Boston,
     marking the first major college championship in Boston since
     '74, according to Gregg Krupa of the BOSTON GLOBE.  The
     Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau (GBCVB) says
     the event "will generate" $11.6-$13.4M for the local
     economy.  FleetCenter President & CEO Richard Krezwick:
     "It's been our goal from the start to attract a premier
     event of national magnitude every year.  This is really the
     first event that tests that ability."  About 11,000 people
     from outside MA and 9,500 from outside New England will
     attend the event, with one-third of the visitors staying for
     three or more days.  Since hockey is so expensive to play,
     its demographics "have always been high end."  The GBCVB
     says that more than 25% of fans attending the NCAA games
     earn more than $85,000 per year (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/2).