The NFL is in the "early stages" of planning a
preseason game or games in Sydney or Melbourne, Australia,
for '98 or '99, "as it looks to broaden its overseas
presence and cash in on some of the pre-Olympic hoopla,"
according to Terry Lefton of BRANDWEEK. The league "will
likely sell title sponsorship" to the game, with "potential
buyers" including Visa and UPS, both of which are NFL and
Olympic sponsors. NFL Int'l Senior VP & Managing Dir Don
Garber: "We've had an export-based strategy and today that
focus will be more local." Target countries for increased
"sponsorship activity" are Germany, U.K., Canada, Mexico and
Japan -- all countries where U.S. football is currently
"played and shown on TV" (BRANDWEEK, 3/24 issue).
L.A. STORY: The N.Y. TIMES' Mike Freeman reports that
the NFL is "considering the unprecedented use of its own
resources to start up a team, in order to sell it. ... In
this latest [L.A.] scenario, the N.F.L. would hire a general
manager, a coach, the staff, everyone. It would set up the
team, run it for a short period of time and then sell it to
the highest bidder" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/23).
BUILDING A WAR CHEST: The NFLPA set up a $50M
contingency fund on Friday in case labor "problems crop up
again when the present agreement with the NFL expires."
Seventy-four players, representing the league's board of
player reps, also agreed to give the Executive Board the
power to decide whether they want to extend the labor
contract through 2001 (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 3/22).
