Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990                   TAG: 9003023503
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE:    Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Medium

ASSOCINFL ADDS TWO WILD-CARD TEAMS

First, a longer season. Now more playoff teams.

Inevitably, more money.

The latest move came Thursday with two announcements. Starting next season, two more wild-card teams will be added to the playoffs. And the NFL has reached an agreement with ABC that will put $900 million into league coffers over the next four years.

According to network sources, ABC insisted that for the money being spent - nearly double what it paid in the last contract - it get some playoff games in addition to Monday night football and next year's Super Bowl. So it now will get a Saturday playoff doubleheader on what will be a four-game, wild-card weekend.

"Additional television revenue was an obvious factor," NFL spokesman Joe Browne said. "But many clubs had also expressed interest in adding playoff teams. Some suggested we break all ties with games on wild-card weekend. This accomplishes the goal of adding new teams without diminishing the importance of regular-season play."

"We expect the two new first-round playoff games to create added competition and excitement around the league," Tagliabue said.

The financial factor is clearly dominant in the 12-team playoff formula, which is almost sure to be ratified by owners during their meetings in two weeks at Orlando, Fla.

The agreement with ABC increases the network's payments from $120 million a year to $225 million. It also nearly ensures that the basic over-the-air format will remain the same, with CBS and NBC carrying Sunday afternoon games.

The NFL already has reached agreement on cable contracts with ESPN and TBS for $450 million each, meaning it already has nearly $2 billion worth of contracts with two of the three majors still under negotiation.

If the ABC contract is used as a standard, the ultimate agreement could come to more than $4 billion over four years, just about doubling the average annual television take per team from the current $17 million.

The move comes a week after another revenue-producing step, the expansion of the season to 17 weeks in 1990 and 18 weeks after that. With that, each team will get one week off next year and two weeks off in the following years with the extra week between the championship games and Super Bowl eliminated for 1990.