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Copyright 1998 Information Access Company,
a Thomson Corporation Company;
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Copyright 1998 Capital Cities Media Inc.
WWD

September 2, 1998

SECTION: No. 175, Vol. 175; Pg. 12; ISSN: 0149-5380

IAC-ACC-NO: 21101911

LENGTH: 426 words

HEADLINE: NIKE'S MAYOR'S SPORT CHALLENGE TO LAUNCH IN MAY.

BODY:
NEW YORK -- Nike has unfurled plans for the Mayors' Sports Challenge, a running program aimed at seventh graders in public schools in 11 cities.

Through an agreement with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, NikeTown is launching its Mayors' Sports Challenge in the following cities during the 1998-99 school year: New York, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Costa Mesa, Calif., and Salt Lake City. Each city houses a NikeTown store, except for Salt Lake City, which has a Nike outlet. Salt Lake City, of course, will host the Winter Olympics in 2002.

Nike said it is currently lobbying for the program in Los Angeles -- the only other city in the U.S. with a NikeTown.

The program should to reach more than 16,000 students, according to Charlie Baker, Nike's vice president of global retail.

Deedee Corradini, mayor of Salt Lake City and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and Carl Lewis, a nine-time Olympic gold medal winner who endorses Nike, participated in Tuesday's kickoff at NikeTown, 6 East 57th Street, here.

Seven schools will be selected to participate in each city. It will be up to the mayors' offices to pick the schools, the Nike spokeswoman said, adding that selections will be based on financial need.

New York City Sports Commissioner Kenneth Podziba, who was at Tuesday's presentation, said he did not know what criteria would be used to determine the selections.

Seventh-graders in the selected schools will have the opportunity to attend Nike-sponsored running clinics at their schools. In addition to giving T-shirts to clinic participants, Nike plans to donate a race clock, batons, starting blocks, finish tape and other equipment to the schools for their start-up running programs.

In June, Lewis will host a track meet for 75 athletes in each of the 11 cities.

Podziba said he hoped the Mayors' Sports Challenge would lead to similar ventures with corporate sponsors and downplayed the program's commercial side

"Nike is going to sell shoes anyway. I don't know that this is going to help them sell more shoes," he said. "If someone comes to us and is willing to give us a handout, we're willing to consider it. But we wouldn't partner with just anybody."

Val Munoz, global director of marketing for retail at Nike, discounted suggestions that the company might be accused of commercializing public school sports.

"Helping kids play sports and protecting kids with safe places to play have always been very near and dear to our hearts," she said.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

IAC-CREATE-DATE: September 9, 1998

LOAD-DATE: September 10, 1998