Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 16, 1995 TAG: 9503160042
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Replacement baseball is striking out with many advertisers, who say they're looking for a replacement way to spend their money.
The cable network that carries New York Yankees baseball reports that 95 percent or more of its regular advertisers won't buy commercial time to sponsor replacement games - even when extra incentives are offered.
Ad commitments at the TV stations that carry Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals games are running 65 percent behind a year ago.
``By and large, they want major league baseball, and this ain't what they paid for,'' said Stu Tauber, general manager at WSBK in Boston, which has carried Red Sox games for 20 years.
Other than a few holdovers from last season, ``Nobody has been willing to buy time at any price,'' said David Rowland, finance director of KXTH in Houston, which carries Astros games.
Media managers say advertisers are reluctant to buy time because they expect smaller audiences and lower-caliber games. Advertisers also don't want to appear to be taking sides in a labor dispute.
In the Roanoke-Lynchburg television market, the two stations that are scheduled to carry major league baseball have said they actually have an easier time selling commercials around other programming, such as the regular prime-time schedule or movies.
"It wouldn't hurt my feelings if we did not have Monday night baseball," said Mike Brunette, sales manager for WSET (Channel 13) in Lynchburg. Likewise, at Roanoke's WSET (Channel 10), station manager Randy Smith said that "baseball has never hit a home run in this market" as far as advertising revenue is concerned.
Uncertainty about the season is taking on added urgency as the scheduled April 2 opener approaches.
There has been no major league baseball since the players' strike ended the 1994 season prematurely Aug. 12. Teams have been using replacement players in spring exhibitions.
Even if the strike were settled and regular players opened the season as scheduled, it would be too late for many stations, which already have lost their opportunity to sell season-long ad commitments.
``You start selling baseball ads in November, and 80 percent of our sales are usually done by the end of March,'' said Jim MacDonald, vice president and general manager at KSMO in Kansas City, which has rights to 64 Royals games.
Many big advertisers have redirected their ad budgets for the spring to basketball and hockey. ``They can't wait forever,'' MacDonald said.
Some media outlets said they were having an easier time selling ads.
KOA-AM in Denver, which carries 13 spring training games and all regular season games of the Colorado Rockies, said many advertisers are sticking with them. Randy Smith, general manager at WPHL in Philadelphia, said the station was doing ``reasonably well,'' although he declined to compare this year's advertising with last year's.
Nationally, ad sales on cable network ESPN ``aren't as strong as we would like,'' said spokeswoman Diane Lamb. ESPN has rights to about 77 games this season but hasn't decided whether to air replacement games.
by CNB