Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 9, 1993 TAG: 9310090036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The NBA isn't happy that Jordan walked. However, while the impact of his departure will be felt in TV ratings, the date of his decision surely was meaningful in the NBA's financial future.
In April, NBC extended its contract with the NBA, adding four years at a minimum of $750 million through the 1997-98 season. It was only 2 1/2 weeks ago that Turner Broadcasting re-upped with the NBA for the national cable rights on TNT and TBS, at $350 million over four years.
Each of those contracts brought the NBA a 25 percent rise in rights fees over the contracts that expire this season. While NBC and Turner would have been aggressive bidders to keep their NBA ties, would they have spent so much had they known Jordan was leaving?
It's not likely, although even without those retired superstars, NBC still will make a profit in its current $600 million NBA deal.
"When we first got the NBA [1990-91], the Lakers and Celtics were the big teams, with Magic [Johnson] and [Larry] Bird," said NBC Sports vice president Ed Markey. "Chicago hadn't won a championship. Then, the Bulls surpassed those teams and Michael was bigger than Magic and Bird. Three years later, they're all gone."
Jordan's impact is obvious in the 1993-94 TV schedules. The Bulls are scheduled seven times on NBC (in 23 games) and 10 times on TNT (in 50 games), the maximum number allowed on each. Chicago isn't alone in that distinction. Phoenix, Orlando and New York also are scheduled seven and 10 times on NBC and TNT, respectively.
Markey said that last season, four of the top five and six of the top eight regular-season NBC telecasts in the Nielsen ratings were Bulls' games. The three NBA Finals on NBC, all Chicago triumphs, rank among the top six playoff series all-time in the ratings, including record Nielsens in 1993.
In the past eight years on Turner's cable schedule, Jordan's appearances had ratings 17 percent higher than the average NBA telecast. TNT's Nov. 5 opener this season has the Bulls at Charlotte.
"Michael Jordan leaving is like Seinfeld leaving NBC," NBC studio host Bob Costas told The New York Times. "He's a prime time show to himself."
Markey said it's "difficult to say any one person is worth X amount of ratings points. I think it's obvious Jordan, the performer, brought in some who watched simply because of who he is."
It also helped the league that Jordan played for a team in the nation's No. 3 TV market. Chicago superstation WGN will lose viewers from its Bulls' package, too. The networks, who will pay dearly through 1997-98, are waiting to see whether Shaq, Barkley or Ewing and Riley will justify their payments for a show without its biggest star.
\ ON ICE: With the opening of the Roanoke Express' first ECHL season 10 days away, WDBJ (Channel 7) will air a five-part historical look at pro hockey in the Roanoke Valley on "News 7" at noon and 6 p.m. weekdays starting Monday.
WDBJ engineer Paul Manning, a longtime area hockey fan, spent hours pouring through hundreds of reels of film for footage. Manning and Channel 7 sports director Mike Stevens are producing the "Roanoke's Ice Age" series.
The series will include film from the late 1960s and the early '70s and include interviews with the late Jack Dame, who brought pro hockey to the Salem Civic Center, former Rebels coach and general manager Colin Kilburn, past franchise owners Gene Hawthorne and Henry Brabham, Express general manager and former Rebels player Pierre Paiement and current Salem Civic Center manager Carey Harveycutter, who was the scorekeeper for the 1967 Rebels.
\ BIG TEN LOSS: A decision by ABC Sports on its college football schedule for next Saturday thrilled the ACC, but will steam Penn State and Michigan fans in the region, which won't see the huge Big Ten Conference game.
The ACC expected to receive $660,000 for the Virginia-Florida State telecast on ESPN on Oct. 16, but the conference will earn another $760,000 thanks to ABC's decision to air the North Carolina-Georgia Tech matchup as a split-national game at noon with the Penn State-Michigan telecast.
ABC spokesman Mark Mandel said the decision to air UNC-Georgia Tech and not make Penn State-Michigan a national telecast "was based on the fact that the Big Ten doesn't play very well, in general, in the South. So, we thought we needed a game that would appeal more to the region in that window."
Mandel said Penn State-Michigan will not air on the ABC/ESPN pay-per-view schedule either. Only the 3:30 p.m. regional games will be available on PPV. Tennessee-Alabama will air on WSET (Channel 13), leaving cable systems to choose among Colorado-Oklahoma, Michigan State-Ohio State and Washington-UCLA as the pay presentation.
With UVa-FSU and UNC-Georgia Tech taken for CFA dates, the ACC will move Clemson-Wake Forest onto the conference's TV schedule (noon, WSET). The UNC-Georgia Tech game, pre-empted by WSET, will be aired locally by WJPR (Channels 21/27).
\ AIRWAVES: Mike Burnop will be the guest analyst when WROV (1240 AM) adds to its Friday night high school football broadcast schedule today with the Timberidge-Roanoke Catholic game from Victory Stadium at 1:30 p.m. Burnop, a Catholic grad, has a break from his work in Virginia Tech's booth with the Hokies having an open date. . . . WJPR (Channels 21/27) has added the weekly Marshall University football show to its schedule at 1:15 a.m. Saturdays, following the taped high school football telecast. . . . Former Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs' early work as an NFL telecast analyst for NBC has been "better than expected" said a network spokesman. When Gibbs returns to the air in November, he'll be paired with a high-profile play-by-play partner - Bob Costas.
Keywords:
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by CNB