Online cooperative buying service Mercata.com will
sponsor the Seahawks' e-commerce site, according to Angelo
Bruscas of the SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, who reported that
Mercata is backed by Seahawks Owner Paul Allen's Vulcan
Ventures. Under the new venture, Mercata's Seahawks line
"can be purchased by fans" using what Mercata calls a
"PowerBuy": the more people who bid on an item, the lower
the price goes. The Mercata link also offers Seahawks fans
"opportunities to purchase minidisc players and boomboxes,
as well as sports merchandise." Bruscas reported that the
"next move probably will be to link the Seahawks with
Go2Net," another Allen venture (SEATTLE P-I, 9/20). In
L.A., Edward Silver wrote that "a key element of Allen's
grand design" for Vulcan Ventures is the 34% of Go2Net that
Vulcan bought this spring. Hambrecht & Quist analyst David
Ley "expects this fast-growing operation to become the
'broadband portal for the Vulcan properties,' analogous to
how AT&T is likely to use Excite" (L.A. TIMES, 9/20).
VIRTUAL REALITY: MA-based Worlds.com will create a 3-D
area on the Yankees' Web site, scheduled to be up by the
playoffs. N.Y.-based Ultrastar, which handles the Yankees'
Internet rights, will share advertising, sponsorship and VIP
membership fees with Worlds.com (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/21).
