Three sporting goods chains have plans to open superstores
in the Detroit area in the next year. The new chains are
Pittsburgh-based Dick's Sporting Goods, Tampa-based Sports &
Recreation and IL-based Sportmart (DETROIT FREE PRESS,
4/12)....Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. "came to the rescue" of the
Cape Cod League yesterday, pledging $45,000 to keep the amateur
summer baseball league financially solvent through the '95
season. Ocean Spray, in becoming the principal sponsor, will
pick up the amount that MLB dropped when it "slashed" its annual
support from $85,000 to $40,000 because of the strike (BOSTON
GLOBE, 4/12)....Starbucks Coffee Co. and PepsiCo will start
testing their first carbonated coffee drink in Southern CA next
month. Starbucks is currently in an 8-month joint venture with
Pepsi (N.Y. POST, 4/12)....FL Gov. Lawton Chiles and his Cabinet
approved specialty license plates honoring the Jacksonville
Jaguars. The specialty tags, complete with the Jaguar logo will
be available to fans starting July 1 for $25 more than a regular
FL plate (USA TODAY, 4/12). A World Wide Web home page for the
new NFL Jaguars created by a Univ. of Florida student will
feature a "cat's silhouette" in place of the team's official
logo. Team officials objected to the use of the logo since the
site was not an official Web page established by the Jaguars
(Steve Spears, FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 4/12).