MARKETPLACE ROUND-UP

          PERSONALITIES: GTE has signed Lakers G Kobe Bryant as
     the "lead spokesman" for its literacy campaign in CA, which
     is planned to launch April 28.  Bryant's likeness will be
     used in promo material, and he may make a "public appearance
     or two" (L.A. TIMES, 3/24)....Sammy Sosa, on the commercials
     he shot during MLB's off-season: "I enjoyed doing the
     McDonald's commercial the most" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/24).
          NIKE: Garth Brooks, when asked if any "major athletic
     sponsors had approached" him for a deal: "Yeah, Nike asked
     me not to wear their shoes" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/23)....Nike
     will raise wages for its "workers in Indonesia amid a
     government plan to raise the minimum wage" to about $26 a
     month.  The move includes a 6% raise for entry-level workers
     "to the equivalent of nearly $30 a month" (REUTERS, 3/23).
          OTHER NOTES: The WWF "may have finally found a home" at
     Broadway and 43rd Street in N.Y.'s Times Square, for a theme
     restaurant which may be called "Raw Restaurant" (N.Y. TIMES,
     3/24)....IMG has "agreed in principle" to acquire a 44%
     share of the World Curling Tour.  The WCT players'
     association will acquire 51% of the Tour "at a price
     believed to be only" C$50,000 (CP, 3/21).
    

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