As a gesture to the "inconveniences" at Saturday's
     Preakness, the MD Jockey Club will offer a number of perks
     to racing fans on Belmont Stakes day June 6, including free
     grandstand admission, free grandstand and clubhouse parking,
     free programs and half-price concessions, exclusive of
     alcohol and tobacco (Baltimore SUN, 5/20)....Kaleidoscope
     Sports & Entertainment will handle marketing, sponsorship
     sales, event management, tournament operations, hospitality
     services and PR for the fifth annual Jackie Robinson
     Foundation Invitational Golf Classic at the Wilshire Country
     Club in L.A. on August 17 (KS&E). 
           

          S.F. Mayor Willie Brown "wants to lay claim" to the X
     Games, and "is pulling out all stops to land" them in his
     city in '99 and 2000, according to Chuck Finnie of the S.F.
     EXAMINER.  Brown said the X Games are "what the young people
     are into.  Skateboarding, rock climbing, oddball sports that
     attract people from all over the world."  Brown named Kofi
     Bonner, his chief economic advisor, to work with police and
     city officials to "whip together a formal bid" for the games
     by next month.  Other cities in the running to host the next
     two Summer X Games include St. Petersburg, Providence,
     Denver and Seattle (S.F. EXAMINER, 5/19).

          NHL Senior VP Steve Solomon told Bill Halls of the
     DETROIT NEWS that the league's new deal with Mentmore
     Holdings to build ice and in-line rinks nationwide is a
     "combination of research and our instinct.  It became clear
     that there is a need for ice time and there is not a
     sufficient amount of ice."  The league has been "pleased
     with public response" to the first ice rink, in Birch Run,
     MI, and plans to build 100 rinks around the U.S.  Birch Run
     Manager Greg Scott: "We have people who drive an hour and a
     half to two hours all the time.  In fact, we've had people
     drives as many as seven hours to come here.  It's in use
     from 6 a.m. to midnight every day" (DETROIT NEWS, 5/21).