NFLP "was sued" by Falcons fan Alan Weiss, who claims
that he has owned the rights to the "Dirtybird" trademark
used by the NFL to market Falcons merchandise since November
'98. Weiss "has tried to market clothing with his logo,"
but his customers were told by the NFL that Weiss "did not
have a right to sell" the merchandise. BLOOMBERG's William
McQuillen noted that the NFL spells the trademark as two
words -- "Dirty Birds" (BLOOMBERG, 4/21)....Payroll
processing company Paychex CEO Tom Golisano, on his company
spokespeople, golfer Jeff Sluman and NASCAR driver Brett
Bodine: "We're a relatively small business dealing with
small businesses, and Jeff and Brett, in the 5-feet-6, 5-7
range, are relatively short among today's male athletes. I
see a little bit of the underdog in Jeff and Brett, and I
like that image. ... The thing I especially like is that
golf and auto racing have different demographics, and we're
getting exposure in two different markets" (Bob Matthews,
Rochester DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 4/22).
NIKE: Bermuda-based Radica Games signed a deal with
Nike to license Tiger Woods' name for "hand-held computer
games" to launch next fall (AD AGE, 4/23)....In conjunction
with Nike, Spurs players are giving away a "few free
jerseys" to fans prior to each home game. As the players
leave the court after warm-ups, they throw the Nike jerseys
to fans in the stands (S.A. EXPRESS-NEWS, 4/23)....Nike Golf
runs a full-page ad in USA TODAY congratulating golfer Glen
Day for his first victory at last weekend's MCI Classic and
thanking him for giving the company's newly-introduced golf
ball line its first win on the PGA Tour (THE DAILY).
NOTES: Outback Sports is marketing The Trophy Suite at
the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic as the "prototype
luxury box of the 21st century." It leases for $20,000-
25,000 (NEWS & RECORD, 4/23)....Mets C Mike Piazza teams
with Bell Atlantic, Keyspan Energy, Pepsi, Waldbaum's and
the Mets for "Takin' It To The Fields," a youth baseball
initiative. Seven-thousand baseball teams will receive a
Pepsi-can shaped cooler stocked with coupons, a letter from
Piazza, a score book and a backstop banner (Pepsi).