CORPORATE SPONSORS TARGET MARKETING TOWARD HIGH SCHOOLS

          The "rising costs for everything from running
     tournaments to outfitting teams has high school
     administrators and coaches turning to corporate America for
     an assist," according to Josh Egerman of the CONNECTICUT
     POST.  The CT Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC),
     which had no sponsors in '92, now has 19 companies on board,
     with an endowment fund of $700,000.  Bob Ford, CIAC's Dir of
     Development: "It's not that they're necessarily looking to
     help a needy organization.  They're looking for visibility." 
     Ford can pitch to companies 250,000 students in grades seven
     through 12 -- and their parents -- that companies can reach
     by sponsoring CIAC events, including state tournaments and
     student-athlete banquets.  Egerman added that sneaker deals
     are also "becoming more noticeable in the high schools" as
     the deals give shoe companies "exposure to the most
     impressionable sector of the buying public -- teen-agers"
     (Josh Egerman, CONNECTICUT POST, 3/6).