Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990 TAG: 9004030406
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press and New York Times reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"I'm concerned about some of the information they're putting out," said Todd Musburger, who represented his brother in contract negotiations.
"I don't want to get into the details right now, but maybe after the game the gloves will come off."
The game - Monday night's NCAA Tournament basketball championship between Nevada-Las Vegas and Duke in Denver - will be Brent Musburger's final broadcast for CBS. The network announced Sunday that it would not renew his $2 million-per-year contract after it expires June 30.
The main issues apparently were money and high-profile assignments. The network's most prominent sportscaster wanted more of both than the network was willing to give him.
Brent Musburger signed off the air by thanking his co-workers.
"As you know," he told viewers, "this was my last assignment with CBS after 22 years with the television network, radio network and the stations. And I had an opportunity to work with the greatest directors, producers, technicians in the world. ...
"Folks, I've had the best seat in the house. Thanks for sharing it. I'll see you down the road."
The dispute came to a head Saturday night during a meeting in Denver between Todd Musburger and Neal Pilson, president of CBS Sports.
Pilson said Todd Musburger demanded an immediate decision on his brother's status with the network. After the agent was informed of CBS' decision, Pilson said, both sides agreed that an announcement would be made Sunday.
"We were concerned about a [news] leak," Pilson said. "We wanted to stop the rumors before they got started."
However, Todd Musburger said he was upset by the timing of the release.
"[Pilson] told us he was going to prepare a release, but we didn't know he was going to send it out the day before the championship game. It was not a mutual decision; it was a unilateral decision. We in no way urged them to do it."
When told about those remarks, Pilson said: "I'm not going to trade charges with Todd Musburger. The story here is the tournament, not Todd Musburger."
Meanwhile in New York, a CBS executive told The New York Times that CBS had decided to release Brent Musburger, its top sports announcer for the past 15 years, at least a week before Sunday's announcement.
"It's safe to say CBS was not unhappy with the way this worked out," said the executive. "Everything is the way CBS wanted it to be."
CBS reported less than 100 calls Monday about the decision not to renew Musburger's contract.
The CBS executive, who asked not to be identified, said the Musburgers had misread the announcer's value to CBS in the current television marketplace.
"They were misguided" in making demands for a new contract that included guarantees of prime announcing assignments and a financial increase described as "half again" what Musburger had made on his existing contract, the executive said. Under the terms of that 5 1/2-year deal, Musburger had averaged about $1.8 million a year.
Todd Musburger told The Associated Press that he knew the contract negotiations were breaking down when CBS officials canceled a meeting scheduled for Thursday at his Chicago office.
Musburger "That's when the first alarm went off in my head," he said. "After that, it was very hard to find someone from CBS to look me in the eye."
"At one point, we were within an eyelash of signing a new contract," he said.
However, a CBS source said the situation deteriorated after Todd Musburger sent a fax to the network saying his brother would not broadcast baseball until a contract agreement was reached. Brent Musburger was scheduled to be the top baseball announcer for CBS, which begins its major-league coverage April 14.
Brent Musburger issued a brief statement after CBS' announcement Sunday, but has been unavailable for interviews. He taped his last piece for CBS Radio on Monday, but didn't mention that he was leaving the network.
Meanwhile, speculation on Musburger's replacement continued.
Although Musburger was the host of "NFL Today" for 15 years and covered many other sports for CBS, the network's most pressing problem is finding another baseball broadcaster. Musburger was to have teamed with Tim McCarver on major-league telecasts.
Al Michaels is considered the top candidate to replace Musburger if ABC will release him from his contract, which runs into 1993. Michaels, who worked the 1989 World Series with McCarver, reportedly is feuding with ABC Sports president Dennis Swanson and might be interested in the CBS job.
Michaels' agent, Art Kaminsky, declined to speculate about the possibility that his client might switch networks. Swanson also refused to comment on Michaels' status at ABC.
"It's inappropriate," Kaminsky said. "Brent has been there for 15 years and this is so sudden. I and everyone else owe him some respect. We should let him work the [NCAA championship] game [before talking about his successor]."
Swanson, asked whether ABC would let Michaels out of his contract, said, "I don't comment on hypothetical questions."
If CBS can't get Michaels, it might try to lure Bob Costas from NBC. But Costas, whose first love is baseball, also has a contract that runs into 1993. Costas also would lose "Later," his late-night talk show, and scheduled NBA assignments if he left NBC.
Another possibility would be filling Musburger's roles with other CBS announcers. Pilson wants to give younger CBS sportscasters, such as Jim Nantz, Greg Gumbel and James Brown, additional duties at the network.
"He's got a lot of talent there," Kaminsky said. "He can take care of this internally, if he chooses."
by CNB