While the "Coca-Cola-sponsored NHL" will hold its 2001
All-Star Game at the Pepsi Center in Denver, it "could be
90-some years before" the arena hosts an NBA All-Star Game
if the "name of the Pepsi Center doesn't change," according
to Lee Jenkins of the CO Springs GAZETTE, who writes that
some observers "think the NBA wouldn't want to alienate a
top sponsor" by holding the event in an arena "named after
its competitor." Univ. of OR Warsaw Sports Marketing Center
Dir Rick Burton: "The NBA's bread is buttered with Coca-
Cola. It's entirely possible that the league won't go into
Denver." But NBA Senior VP/Communications Brian McIntyre
"dismissed the possibility" that PepsiCo's naming rights
deal would hurt Denver's opportunity to host an All-Star
Game. Pepsi Center Dir of Sponsorship Brian Jones said the
affiliation with Pepsi "was a serious consideration for the
NHL." Jones added that the situation was "serious enough"
that Coca-Cola "withdrew some of its financial support" for
next year's NHL event. Jones: "Because the game [will be]
held at Pepsi Center, [Coca-Cola] decided not to
participate." Jenkins reports that the Pepsi Center will
"cut the NHL a six-figure check ... to make up the deficit
incurred from Coke's departure" (CO Springs GAZETTE, 3/16).
