Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 23, 1991 TAG: 9103230026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: TV/RADIO LENGTH: Medium
The World League of American Football - pronounce it "W-Laugh" - is the latest spring fling for the sport. However, the WLAF should not be compared to the late and unlamented World Football League or even the once-promising United States Football League.
The stories you've heard about the NFL having a new challenger are wrong. The WLAF's seed money comes from 26 of the 28 NFL franchises. The Bears and Cardinals didn't chip in the $50,000 each. Some of the technical innovations and rule-tinkering in the WLAF are likely little more than the NFL playing around in a new laboratory.
This league will have receivers in the slot and in the quarterbacks' helmets. The 10 teams span five countries and six time zones. Most importantly to the league's chances for survival, however, are its telecast contracts with ABC and cable's USA Network.
The league also likely will get late-night mention on NBC, thanks to David Letterman. His favorite kicker, Bjorn Nittmo, plays for the Montreal Machine.
The WLAF will receive about $9 million from the two broadcast networks for its first 12-week season that concludes June 9 with the World Bowl. ABC has signed on for $12 million over two years, USA $15 million over four seasons. The telecasts will be enhanced by the viewers' opportunity to listen in on quarterback-coach conversations via wireless microphones and receivers.
ABC has assigned Brent Musburger and Dick Vermeil to explore this new world in Sunday afternoon games. USA, with Saturday and Monday night games, will use NFL quarterbacks as game analysts. Boomer Esiason works Monday nights with ACC telecast regular Brad Nessler, and Dan Marino calls Saturday games with Tim Brant. Warren Moon will work regional telecasts.
The WLAF's prospects also are based upon the springtime ratings for the USFL, which performed decently in the Nielsens until the league got greedy and tried to move into the NFL's autumnal territory.
All ratings are down since the mid-'80s, but from 1983-85, the USFL had Nielsen averages that ranged from 4.1 to 6.0. If the WLAF can do a 3.5 for ABC on Sunday afternoons - when the major competition over the next few months is the NBA playoffs - it will make a respectable start.
The curiosity factor should help, too. WLAF teams will have the option of trying a one- or two-point conversion after a touchdown. A team must score a touchdown to win in overtime, not simply boot a 45-yard field goal as is common in the NFL. The ball only comes out to the 10, not the 20, on a kickoff touchback. There is no "in-the-grasp" rule, and no instant replay officiating.
Teams will use no-huddle offenses, meaning Esiason's analysis should be valued on USA games. So, how long do you think it will take Brant and Marino to refer to the Birmingham Fire-drill offense in tonight's USA opener against Montreal?
USA will do some regional coverage because of blackout restrictions. The WLAF is using the same 72-hour sellout-blackout policy as the NFL. ABC's 10 regular-season games will be aired from six different sites, including two at North Carolina State's Carter-Finley Stadium, home of the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks.
This week, USA coordinating director Craig Janoff - the director of ABC's "Monday Night Football" - has been experimenting with a helmet-cam for use in the WLAF in upcoming weeks. The camera is about the size of a lip-balm tube and would be mounted inside a quarterback's helmet between the side of the player's head and the inner shell of the helmet.
The camera works. The only question is whether it will pass the league's safety rules.
"Whatever we do, the integrity of the game has to be protected," said Ken Wolfe, the NFL Monday night producer who is working with Janoff for USA's WLAF package. "What we're going to try and do, we're still working on some of those things. Of course, it's not going to be the quality of football you have in the NFL, but the WLAF is going to be innovative."
It will not have the marquee players. No, former Arena league and Duke star Ben Bennett of the Sacramento Surge doesn't count. But it will be football, and some viewers can't get enough of that. It promises to be unique, too, with Boomer and Vermeil telling viewers the quarterback had a better idea than the coach, as they all just heard.
It really could be a mad, mad, mad, mad World.
\ Roanoke Valley native Billy Sample is expected to sign with ESPN within a couple of days to work as a baseball studio and backup game analyst. Sample, the former major-league outfielder who worked Atlanta Braves telecasts for Turner Broadcasting a couple of seasons ago, would be involved primarily with the "Baseball Tonight" studio show.
ESPN's second season of "Baseball Tonight" begins Tuesday at 11 p.m. Sharing the host's role on the nightly show this season will be Chris Berman, John Saunders and Gary Miller. Dave Marash won't be back as a host, but he will do news and features. Peter Gammons and Ray Knight will be studio analysts, with Sample a likely addition.
by CNB