EVENT NOTES

          ITALIAN STALLIONS: The '99 McDonald's Championships
     will be held at the Fila Forum in Milan on October 14-16.
     The three-day competition, featuring the NBA champions and
     five int'l club champions, will be broadcast to over 160
     countries and seen on NBC and TNT in the U.S. (NBA).
          NOTES: In Boston, Gregg Krupa wrote that the first &
     second round NCAA Tournament games at the FleetCenter could
     generate $8M in spending, with "the big winners being hotels
     and restaurants" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/9)....Atlanta Motor
     Speedway (AMS) President Ed Clark said that as of Tuesday,
     AMS has sold about 85,000 tickets for the Cracker Barrel Old
     Country Store 500, leaving "at least" 50,000 tickets
     available for Sunday's race.  A full-page ad ran in today's
     ATLANTA CONSTITUTION promoting the race (3/10).