Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones "is in the middle of another
merchandising battle with NFL Properties," according to Paul
Domowitch in this morning's PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS. Jones
reportedly does not want either the Starter or Logo Athletic
logos displayed in the Cowboys locker room should the team win
the Super Bowl, due to the club's deal with Nike. Starter owns
the rights to manufacture the winner's Super Bowl Champions
shirts and Logo Athletic has rights to the hats. Domowitch notes
that Jones "made Properties take the tags off" of "NFC Champions"
hats that Cowboys players wore after last week's win
(PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 1/19).
OTHER NEWS & NOTES: With demand for tickets to this year's
game estimated at a 50-to-1 buyers-to-sellers ratio, ticket
agencies in AZ say "there's no telling how high" prices may go
before gametime (N.Y. POST, 1/19). Scalping, which is legal in
AZ as long as the transaction takes place more than 200 feet from
an event, is a safer bet for buyers this year. This year's
tickets come in three colors for the first time. The backgrounds
come in gold, lavender and aqua (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 1/19)....The
NFL Experience opened to the media yesterday, with reviews
positive. In this morning's ARIZONA DAILY STAR, Tara Wood
profiles the "NFL Haircuts" booth, featuring NFL-logo designs,
and a temporary tatoo booth (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 1/19). In this
morning's ARIZONA REPUBLIC, Bill Goodykoontz reports the
Experience is expected to draw at least 200,000 people over two
weekends (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 1/19)....Miller Lite is sponsoring
the Armchair Quarterback Challenge, an interactive NFL trivia
contest. Lite and NTN Communications have flown two fans to the
game and will stage the finals of the contest Thursday at the NFL
Experience (Miller)....The ESPN Chilton Poll reports, since the
season, the number of people citing the Cowboys as their favorite
team has fallen from 19% to 15% --still enough to keep the team
as America's "favorite professional football team." The Sports
Poll also shows major gains by both the Steelers and the Packers
since September. The Steelers are now ranked 3rd favorite
(5.1%), while the Packers are 5th (3.4%) (ESPN Chilton).
ON THE AD SCENE: Pizza Hut introduces its new TripleDecker
Pizza on Sunday and will launch a TV campaign for the product
Thursday on NBC. That campaign will carry over to Sunday's Super
Bowl telecast. The pizza is a combination of six cheeses between
two thin crusts and topped with cheese and other toppings. ...
Anheuser Busch, which has purchased several spots for the game,
will launch its Olympic sponsorship program during one of its 60-
second spots. Also slated are the Bud Frogs, an "I love you,
man," Bud Light spot and Bud Bowl 8 (AD AGE ONLINE, 1/19)....In
its "Super Bowl Ad Watch," USA TODAY features Master Lock's spot,
centered around Stephen Stills' "For What it's Worth" (USA TODAY,
1/19)....America West, Official Airline of Super Bowl XXX, runs a
full-page ad in USA TODAY, with the tagline "Fly the Official
Airline of Super Bowl XXX at prices reminiscent of Super Bowl X"
(USA TODAY, 1/19)....The CHICAGO TRIBUNE notes Madison Avenue
"might be tape-measuring [Kordell] Stewart's image" if he plays
well during the Super Bowl (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 1/18).
