Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 13, 1993 TAG: 9311130031
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
There's no question the Big East connection has aided Tech, as in the lobbying for the 6-3 Hokies' bid to land their first bowl date since 1986. However, the conference's boast of television influence hasn't made an impact here.
That's partly because the Big East doesn't pool its TV dollars from College Football Association contracts, and partly because Tech doesn't have much of a TV market in comparison with other league schools.
However, the feeling in the halls at Tech's Jamerson Athletic Center is that when it comes to booking TV dates on ABC and ESPN, the Hokies don't get the same influence peddling other Big East programs do.
Athletic director Dave Braine and coach Frank Beamer aren't going to say that, of course, because they want the Big East's help in bowl talks and they don't need to infuriate a group in which they were long-distance invitees.
Yes, Tech makes its third Big East TV schedule appearance of the season today when Syracuse visits Lane Stadium (noon, WSLS Channel 10). Only Pitt has made more. This Northern exposure is good for the Hokies, but compared to three-fourths of its league brethren, Tech is getting a small audience.
Although this is the first season of round-robin competition in the Big East, it's the third year the league has played football. The scheduling of TV dates through the end of the 1993 regular season is virtually complete.
In those three seasons, the Big East has had 27 appearances on ABC and 28 on ESPN - and none by the Hokies and Temple, a program so lowly (4-27 in three years) that no one else in the conference has been in the same league.
Tech's last appearance on the CFA schedule came against Virginia in the 1990 season finale. This season, the Big East will have 22 CFA appearances on ABC and ESPN, divided between the two networks, plus two $600,000 paydays for Pitt and Boston College as part of Notre Dame's NBC contract.
Big East schools will receive about $9.2 million from TV appearances on ABC, ESPN and NBC this season. Well, six of them will. Big East officials will tell Tech that the Hokies were coming off a 2-8-1 season, and no TV network will schedule a team like that.
When Tech became a Big East football charter member on Feb. 5, 1991, it was coming off back-to-back winning seasons. No TV. The Hokies also had a veteran team, and its 5-6 record in '91 against a good schedule was no embarrassment. No TV.
This season, pitiful Pitt has had two ESPN games, thanks to recycled coach Johnny Majors. Rutgers, mediocre at best and likely headed for a 4-7 season, has an ABC date and two ESPN showings. Syracuse, forecast as a Top 10 team but out of the polls now, will earn a league-high $2.19 million from three ABC dates and another three on ESPN.
Miami - no surprise and deservedly - has five ABC-ESPN dates. However, unbeaten West Virginia has appeared on the CFA schedule only once, with two more dates before season's end.
Why? Rutgers plays in the nation's largest TV market, New York. Syracuse is very popular there, too. Pitt and Boston College are in big TV markets. WVU is in the Pittsburgh market, but the bulk of its statewide fandom is in smaller TV pockets. Virginia's largest TV market is Norfolk, ranked No. 39. Tech plays in the Roanoke-Lynchburg back yard, No. 66.
See how this goes down with your Lane tailgate picnic today: Of the teams with at least six victories in the six CFA-affiliated Division I-A conferences, only Tech and Auburn haven't appeared on ABC or ESPN - and the Tigers' absence can be attributed to NCAA sanctions. All of the Big Ten and Pacific 10 teams with six victories have played on ABC, too. Cincinnati (6-3) is the lone independent with six victories but no TV time.
Should it be that tough to play your way onto TV? Louisville, Kansas State and Wyoming have.
If the Big East shared TV money, as it may begin doing in 1995, the financial compensation at least would make the lack of exposure easier for the Hokies to accept. The problem the Big East had in placing its TV package on Norfolk and Richmond stations is a weakness that Tech and the league must address together.
Don't think for a minute that the Big East isn't aware that the Hokies can count the dollars its conference foes are receiving. The Big East sees that Tech will have two-thirds of its starters back next season, including quarterback Maurice DeShazo.
The league has asked Tech to move one of its two likely sellouts at Lane Stadium in 1994 - against West Virginia or Virginia - to a Thursday night. According to an ESPN executive, the Hokies will play a Thursday night date next season, likely against West Virginia in October and not in mid-November as tentatively scheduled.
That's one game. The Hokies, thanks to an offense that has gained 500 yards or more in five games, should be an attractive TV team next season and be picked in the first division of the conference.
If this season is an indication, that means Tech should get at least three CFA telecast dates, like Miami, Syracuse, West Virginia, Boston College and Rutgers have.
If the Hokies don't, then Braine and Beamer should be asking the Big East publicly what they're wondering privately now. Why is VT not on TV more often?
by CNB