Marketplace Roundup

Canucks Earn C$4M With Scratch Tickets

In Vancouver, Michael Smyth reported the Canucks have scored more than C$4M from the sale of scratch-and-win tickets under a "lucrative licensing and profit-sharing scheme" with the B.C. Lottery Corporation. The province "just unveiled a new [C$3] Canucks scratch-and-win ticket, with prizes such as season tickets and trips to watch the team play on the road." The tickets will generate "hundreds of thousands of dollars" this year for the team, on top of the C$4M it has already earned. B.C. Minister of Housing & Social Development Rich Coleman said, "It's a business arrangement that makes us more revenue and makes them some revenue" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 9/20).

GLOBAL GROWTH: In Malaysia, Aftar Singh wrote the NFL "may not be as famous or as popular as soccer" in Asia, but that has not stopped AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes "from trying to promote" the league. AirAsia last week unveiled a Raiders-emblazoned plane as part of its two-year sponsorship of the team, and Fernandes said of the NFL, "It's a very popular game in the US and we also want it to be one of the sports in Asia. We (AirAsia), with the help of Oakland Raiders, will make efforts to promote the game in Asia." Fernandes said AirAsia is "now in the process of negotiating with airports in the United States on the possibility of operating flights into America." Meanwhile, Singh noted AirAsia has "already penetrated the hugely popular English Premier League market, is a partner of the AT&T Williams Formula One racing team and is also the official low-cost airline for Manchester United" (Malaysia STAR, 9/20).

FIGHT AT NIGHT: FIRST CUTS' Rich Lopez reported Nike has partnered with boxer Manny Pacquiao to create the Lights Out Nike Air Trainer 1, which will be released in Pacquaio's native Philippines on Friday. The shoe features a "black upper with lasered detailing and Glow in the Dark accents." Pacquiao's "MP" logo is "embroidered on the tongue tab," and the outsole has "2:59" written on it, referring to the "stoppage time from Pacquiao's stunning defeat over Ricky Hatton" in May (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 9/18).

HONORABLE MENTION: Tennis player James Blake said of his Thomas Reynolds Collection by Fila, which honors his late father, "I signed with Fila at the beginning of this year and they gave me this opportunity to create my own line. The first thing I thought of was the person that got me into tennis, that really got me to where I am. I wanted it to be about him and so it's in honor of my father" ("Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," NBC, 9/18).

NACHO, SAY CHEESE: Argentine polo player Ignacio Figueras, aka Nacho, was profiled on "CBS News Sunday Morning" by CBS' Serena Altschul, who noted Figueras is the “face of Ralph Lauren." Figueras’ ads for Ralph Lauren's Polo brand "are seen around the world," and with "his rugged good looks it's easy to see why he was chosen as the poster child for the Polo brand” ("CBS News Sunday Morning," CBS, 9/20).