BASKETBALL CANADA LOOKING FOR SPONSORS
By Adnews Staff
Toronto-based Basketball Canada is looking for sponsors for its Women's Pre-Olympic Basketball Tournament to be held from July 6 to 11 in Hamilton and Barrie, both in Ontario. The Gaylord Group of Toronto is handling the sponsorships for the competition in which teams from Brazil, Canada, Australia and Russia will take part. Gaylord was hired at the end of April because some of the basketball organization's board members were familiar with the agency. Basketball Canada is the national governing body for amateur basketball in Canada. It previously handled sponsorships and event marketing in-house. However, it decided to hire an agency because "it's a new age for basketball in this country with the NBA coming to Canada, and there is a great deal of opportunity to promote the sport now," agency account executive Steve Dick told Adnews yesterday. The job is now too big to be handled in-house, said Dick. Spectrum Public Relations, a Gaylord's division, is handling public relations. After the tournament Gaylord will be trying to recruit companies for long term sponsorships related to the Olympic games to be held in the year 2000. Basketball Canada is a member of the Canadian Basketball Alliance, along with NBA Canada, the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies.