Spalding Apparel is looking at four to six finalists for its
$4M-plus sportswear business, according to ADWEEK. The
sportswear group is a new division of Sara Lee Knit Products, and
company CEO Kurt Bowden has said the Spalding brand will be used
as a global megabrand. ADWEEK's Nora Fitzgerald: "Presumably
then, Spalding is looking for an agency with some global
capabilities to create a world class brand" (ADWEEK, 7/17
issue)....Globe Facility Services (GFS), of Tampa has been
selected by UNH to provide management services for a new $23M,
7,500-seat hockey arena scheduled to open in November (Serody
Crane)....ADWEEK's "Best of June" TV spots include Nike's "Penny
Interview" and "Street Hockey" spots (ADWEEK, 7/17
issue)....Dick's Clothing & Sporting Goods plans to open four
stores in the Detroit area around April 1. Dick's stores feature
indoor ice and roller-hockey rinks and basketball courts for
product demonstration (CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS, 7/23).... ABC's
"World News Tonight" examined Anheuser-Busch's attempt to enter
the Czech Republic beer market. The problem is that a beer
called Budweiser is already brewed and sold there. The Czech-Bud
is almost one hundred years older than A-B's, and ABC's Richard
Gizbert reported that August Busch actually stole the name for A-
B's Bud from the Czechs nearly one hundred years ago. The Czech
Budweiser was called the "Beer of Kings," while Busch called his
Bud the "King of Beers" (ABC, 7/24)....Sanctuary Woods Multimedia
has reached a deal with NFL Properties and NFL Players Inc. to
use their properties in its educational software. Both deals
will run three years, and marks the NFL's first educational
software licensee. The first title from the agreement will be
"NFL Math," expected in stores this fall (Sanctuary Woods)....
Creative Artists Agency's work with Coca-Cola is profiled in a
USA TODAY cover story (USA TODAY, 7/25)....USA track star Michael
Johnson is profiled in the current NEWSWEEK. Johnson "is already
a superstar in track-mad Europe," but in the U.S. he goes largely
unnoticed. But if successful at next week's World Championships
in Sweden, "he'll launch a campaign that, if successful, should
establish him as the poster boy for the '96 Games (Mark Starr,
NEWSWEEK, 7/31). AND FINALLY, THERE HAS TO BE A SPONSORSHIP
OPPORTUNITY SOMEWHERE IN HERE: At the Tour de France, one of the
cycling team's doctors, Yvan Vanomol, said he recommends slipping
a steak in a rider's cycling pants to protect "a tender rear end
on long stages." Dr. Vanomol: "Nothing absorbs shock like
animal tissue" (MIAMI HERALD, 7/24).
