Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 28, 1995 TAG: 9510310021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Not long after VMI and Washington and Lee agreed to what could be the start of a roundball rivalry, the Roanoke TV station inquired about a possible telecast.
``The historical significance, the fact they're next door to each other and hadn't played since before Pearl Harbor, that was appealing,'' said Mike Bell, WDBJ's program director. ``We thought it would be special, and we're going to test ourselves a bit, too, by doing a live basketball game.''
It also begins a college hoops schedule of more than 50 games on WDBJ, which again has regional ACC rights and a portion of the expanded CBS Sports schedule leading into exclusive coverage of the men's NCAA Tournament.
WDBJ will air the W&L-VMI game from Cameron Hall on Tuesday, Nov.28 at 7:30 p.m. Channel 7 sports director Mike Stevens will handle play-by-play, with former Virginia Tech and Roanoke College coach Charlie Moir the analyst.
The Roanoke station hasn't produced its own live basketball telecast since the mid-1970s, when WDBJ occasionally did Tech games, before the Hokies joined the Metro Conference.
The only reservation about the W&L-VMI telecast was on the part of the two schools, who were concerned about a live show diminishing returns at what could be a sellout.
All proceeds will go to the Rockbridge Area Recreation Organization (RARO). Bell said WDBJ also will make a cash donation to RARO, with the amount still to be determined.
He said sales for the game have been going well, and each school will benefit from promotional spots provided by some sponsors.
W&L and VMI, despite their adjoining campus borders, never have played a regular-season basketball game. Their only previous meeting came thanks to the 1941 Southern Conference tournament pairings.
VMI won 39-32 in Raleigh, N.C., on Feb.27, 1941 - more than nine months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The two schools played in the same conference for 32 years.
``We think this game really could be something special,'' Bell said.
WAITING GAME: Nine days before the Nov.18 college football telecast schedule must be determined, it appears this season's Virginia Tech-Virginia game won't air live.
With the sold out game being played at Scott Stadium, the ACC has the rights to the telecast. Jimmy Rayburn, executive producer of the ACC football package for Jefferson Pilot Sports, said it is likely two other games will be shown as a split in the ACC region.
Rayburn said the probable ACC noon games on Nov.18 will be Florida State-Maryland and Duke-North Carolina. The only way that is likely to change is if the FSU-Maryland game is chosen for the CFA schedules on ABC or ESPN.
That is possible, but not likely. The networks have other potential games that are more attractive to a wider regional audience than the state's Division I-A rivalry. The schedule that date includes Michigan-Penn State, Notre Dame-Air Force, Kansas State-Colorado, Alabama-Auburn and LSU-Arkansas.
ESPN televised the Tech-UVa game in 1990, and it was an ACC noon game in '91 and '93. Last season, it was the Big East regional telecast.
The bottom line? Both conference packages, despite the potential quality of a matchup, would prefer to not air non-conference games. However, state stations love the Tech-UVa game because it airs during the November sweeps period.
Last year, the game had a 15 Nielsen rating in Roanoke, a 9 in Richmond and an 8 in Norfolk. The previous year, the Roanoke rating was an 11. The average ACC telecast rating in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market in recent years has been a 5, with the Big East slightly lower than that.
HOOPS BACK: The NBA season opens Friday night, and so Turner Sports begins with Charlotte-Chicago on TNT, which will have Tuesday and Friday night games.
Turner's TBS has Wednesday dates. NBC gets into its NBA season on Christmas, and via cable, Home Team Sports delivers 30 Washington games and WGN the same number of Bulls' contests.
Turner Broadcasting and NBC are paying the NBA a combined $275 million this season for national rights in contracts that run through the 1997-98 season.
TNT will have 45 regular-season games, with 25 on TBS and 25 on NBC.
AROUND THE DIAL: The 12th annual Breeders Cup will air today from Belmont Park on NBC, but won't be seen in Roanoke-Lynchburg. The races will be pre-empted by the Virginia Tech-West Virginia football telecast on WSLS (Channel 10). ... If the World Series goes to a seventh game Sunday night, there will be no live radio play-by-play in the Roanoke Valley. WFIR (960 AM), the local CBS Radio affiliate, will be airing the Washington Redskins' network coverage of the 'Skins-New York Giants game at 7 p.m. ... NBC's World Series voice, Bob Costas, says he was stunned that his telecast partner, Bob Uecker, toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. ``I was really impressed Ueck went there, until I heard he confused Keith Moon with Wally Moon,'' Costas said. ...
The new ``VMI Sports Magazine'' made its debut Thursday on Home Team Sports. The half-hour show profiling Keydet athletics next airs Nov.9 at 3:30 p.m., and most often will have a Thursday afternoon time slot. ... The Big South Conference has secured its first men's basketball TV package. Seven games will air on cable's HTS and SportSouth, with the conference tournament championship game on ESPN from the Vines Center in Lynchburg. Radford and Liberty will make one appearance each during the regular season. ... Pat Summerall will do the blow-by-blow call next Saturday night on the Fox Network's ``free'' telecast of the Mike Tyson-Buster Mathis Jr. fight. The pre-fight interviews with the boxers will air on tape, with John Madden asking questions. ... ESPN's Emmy-winning show, ``Outside the Lines,'' celebrates its fifth anniversary Tuesday with a 60-minute special, updating some previous shows and stories, and hosted, as usual, by Bob Ley. The series has won five Sports Emmys and two CableACE honors.
by CNB