Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 27, 1994 TAG: 9408310025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
John McEnroe has many suggestions for improving the sport, for revising it, for rekindling it. He also said there is too much tennis on television.
Which brings us to at least 125 hours of the U.S. Open on CBS and cable's USA Network, starting Monday and running through Sept.11. USA - in its 11th year of Open coverage - has at least 86 of those hours, with McEnroe as an analyst and commentator. Just as when he played, McEnroe, with his opinions, makes the sport intriguing.
For instance:
``Tennis is way too much of a business now,'' McEnroe said when asked if the various factions in the sport could ever get together and agree on how to revitalize the game. ``Jeez, the Berlin Wall came down, and Israel and Egypt signed a treaty years ago, and now they're getting other countries in on it. Anything's possible. It's not a life-threatening situation.''
Or:
``They need to make the sport more exciting. Take out the let-cord rule. They shouldn't allow players to stall. You have to keep the continuity of the match going. ... It's not always who's best. Tennis is about who can handle the most distractions. The sport needs to be changed to give players the opportunity to do their best.''
See, there is a good reason to watch the U.S. Open. You never know when you might hear a Mac attack.
BIG BUCKS: The College Football Association telecast revenue from ABC and ESPN for the 1994 season is $60 million. Every CFA school will receive a $225,000 payment for participation in the plan, whether or not it appears on the tube. Schools receive $360,000 for an appearance in an ESPN game or an ABC regional date or $410,000 for an ABC national appearance.
Already, with ABC regional dates scheduled against Florida State and North Carolina State, Virginia has produced $720,000 for the ACC, which splits TV dollars. Virginia Tech and West Virginia each receive $360,000 for their Sept.22 ESPN prime-time date, because the Big East Football Conference doesn't split TV money until at least next season.
From Sunday's Kickoff Classic against Nebraska (2 p.m., WSET), the visit to Tech and a Thanksgiving night date against Syracuse on ESPN, the Mountaineers are assured of at least $1.13 million in TV fees.
IRISH ON LATE: WSLS (Channel 10), which will be airing the Big East's noon football package this season, will keep the Notre Dame home schedule from NBC and join the Fighting Irish games live, in progress about 3:15-3:30 p.m. That means it likely will be halftime at South Bend when WSLS cuts to those games that have a 1:40 p.m. kickoff.
BIG EAST RADIO:``The Big East Today,'' a half-hour weekly radio show featuring the football league, will air Saturday mornings starting this season on many stations tied into the game networks of the eight conference schools.
Metronews of Morgantown, W.Va., which produces the radio networks of Virginia Tech and West Virginia, will deliver the show, hosted by Tony Caridi and ESPN analyst Mike Gottfried, the former Pitt coach who once was Frank Beamer's boss at Murray State.
ANNIVERSARY: Baseball was to return to NBC for the first time in five years on Friday night. In Roanoke, the stricken regional game was Kansas City-Baltimore. Friday also was the 55th anniversary of the first baseball telecast, also on NBC. It was a Cincinnati-Brooklyn doubleheader at Ebbets Field on Aug.26, 1939, covered by one camera.
METRO HOOPS: WSLS (Channel 10) will return as the Metro Conference basketball outlet in the local TV market, airing five Virginia Tech regular-season dates, the Metro championship game and one of the Metro tournament semifinal games, if the Hokies win in the first round. The WSLS schedule begins with Tech games the first two Saturdays of January.
MUTUAL MOVE: WROV (1240 AM), in addition to its commitment to Virginia's football network, is picking up much of the Mutual Network's college and pro football schedule. WROV will air Sunday NFL games in time slots that do not go head-to-head with the Washington Redskins' network on WFIR (960 AM).
WROV's schedule begins Sunday with the Kickoff Classic at 1:30 p.m. The station also has announced it will carry the Monday radio talk show of Charlotte's NFL expansion franchise. ``Panther Talk'' begins Sept. 5 at 8 p.m., immediately following UVa's ``Cavalier Call-In.''
AROUND THE DIAL: The Old Dominion Athletic Conference's football preview show will air Monday at 5:30 p.m. on cable's Home Team Sports and Sunday, Sept.4 at 8:30 a.m. on WJPR/WFXR. ... Randy Cross, the only former NFL voice from CBS to move to NBC, will work the Seattle-Washington opener with play-by-play man Charlie Jones next Sunday (1 p.m., WSLS). ... The Fox Network's one-hour special, ``NFL All-Access,'' which will give viewers a look inside several teams' training camps, airs Monday (9 p.m., WJPR/WFXR). John Madden is the host. ... The ballpark-closing two-hour special, ``Municipal Field Memories,'' airs Sunday after the Salem Buccaneers' final home game broadcast on WROV (1240 AM) at approximately 9 p.m. ... With the major-league strike continuing, ESPN will turn to the minors for programming. Jon Miller and Joe Morgan will call a Class AA Eastern League game on Labor Day at 1 p.m. - the Reading Phillies visiting the Portland Sea Dogs. Then, if the big leagues are still quiet, ESPN and ESPN2 will air the best-of-five Governors' Cup, the Class AAA International League championship series, from Sept.10-15. ... Hale Irwin, captain of the U.S. team for the new Presidents Cup international team golf competition to be played next month at Lake Manassas, will announce 10 of his 12 team members on Sunday's CBS coverage of the final round of the World Series of Golf (4 p.m., WDBJ).
by CNB