Subject: Bubblegum in Poland and Magic Press Conference
Date: Published: 7/28/92 (56 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Summer Olympics 1992:
    The Man Who Sells Bulls in Barcelona
    ---
    Francisco Roca Works
    To Promote NBA
    And Improve Its Net
    ----
    By Roger Thurow
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    BARCELONA -- Forget about the gold medal.  There is actually a
 loftier reason why the National Basketball Association all-star team
 has come to the Olympics to beat up on teams from the rest of the
 world:
    Bubblegum sales in Poland.
    "Think of the possibilities," says Francisco Roca, the point
 guard for the NBA's marketing efforts in Europe.  "The economy in
 Poland is in very bad shape.  But the interest in things American is
 huge.  Now, we come out with something that is American and
 affordable, like bubblegum.  Kids in Poland watch our stars in the
 Olympics and they want something from the NBA. Maybe they can't
 afford an NBA shirt, it's too expensive.  But bubblegum, they can
 afford that every once in a while.  Sure they can!"
    Mr. Roca slam dunks that idea into his NBA briefcase and jump
 shoots a few more:  how about NBA cologne in Cologne; NBA jerseys on
 the Jersey Islands; NBA taffy in Turkey?  
    "The potential," he says, his eyes lighting up like a scoreboard,
 "is huge."
    Thus, while Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson take care of the
 gold medal, Mr. Roca is going for the gold, period.
    "The basketball finals will be the most-televised event at the
 Olympics, maybe even ever," he says, elevating the hyperbole
 surrounding the Dream Team, other wise known as Team USA.  "The world
 will have a chance to see our big players, Jordan, Magic, Clyde
 {Drexler}, all together.  They will show to the world the true value
 of basketball, that it is great entertainment.  The excitement for
 the game will grow."

[23 lines irrelevant to AIDS have been removed.  -- sysop]

    -- A newspaper in Zagreb, Croatia, breaks the startling news that
 Magic Johnson, who retired from the Los Angeles Lakers (but not the
 Olympic team) after testing positive for HIV, would be signing a
 contract with a local team later in the day.  At the appointed hour,
 hundreds of readers and a contingent of rival journalists put their
 country's civil war on hold and rush to the appointed place to get a
 picture of Magic.  Breathlessly, the newspaper's editors make an
 announcement:  April Fool!

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