PepsiCo has become the official beverage sponsor of the
11-city All-American Soccer Stars Victory Tour, which will
feature the U.S. WWC team in indoor exhibition matches
against a squad of int'l players. PepsiCo's Aquafina
bottled water will be the lead brand on the sponsorship,
which also includes Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi One, Mountain
Dew and AllSport. The company gets exclusivity in the
bottled water, soft drink and sports drink categories, as
well as rights to use marks and logos of the team in ads,
promos and POS materials. Exclusivity during Tour
telecasts, sideline rights, field board signage and group
player likenesses are also included in the package. PepsiCo
has also reached endorsement deals with Julie Foudy and
Briana Scurry (PepsiCo). USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke writes
that ABC and ESPN "might pick up a significant number of
games" on the Victory Tour, handled by SFX Sports. ABC
Sports Dir of PR Mark Mandel: "We get a lot of proposals.
We just received this one" (USA TODAY, 7/16).
CONTROVERSIAL KICKERS: Despite some criticism over the
media's treatment of her, Scurry said yesterday that "her
skin color has been a nonfactor in the post-championship
hoopla that has enveloped" the U.S. women's team. Scurry:
"Actually, I'm getting a lot of attention. Pepsi has all
kinds of things planned for me. I've been on the 'Today
Show,' the 'Tonight Show,' 'Good Morning America,' you name
it. ... I know some people are saying the camera wasn't on
me enough during the game. But I watched a tape today, and
I had the camera on me tons" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE,
7/16). On last night's "Tonight Show," Scurry wore a Nike
tennis tank top and pants with the Tiger Woods logo. She
commented on her post-game celebration: "I'm kind of
reserved. I tend to keep my clothes on" (NBC, 7/15).
