ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 23, 1996 TAG: 9611260021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: ON THE AIR
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Besides too many games in too many time slots, what's wrong with college football's telecast plans has been displayed this season in the Big East Football Conference.
The best games don't always go to the largest audiences. That not only drives down Nielsen ratings, it also cheats the most deserving schools financially.
However, it's not going to change. The College Football Association deals that ended last season were the best the sport could get. The teams that belonged on the air appeared. This year, with conferences making their own deals with networks, teams appear more often and coaches crow about more exposure to recruits, but really, who's watching?
Today's game at Lane Stadium is an example of what's gone wrong with college football on the viewer's side of the tube. West Virginia's noon visit to Virginia Tech is one of the hottest games of the Big East season. However, it's airing on the league's No.3 carrier, ESPN2. Big East schools don't receive appearance fees from the league for a game on ``The Deuce.''
CBS, the primary Big East network, is airing Boston College-Miami in the same time slot (noon, WDBJ). It's about market size. CBS, which the Big East shares with the Southeastern Conference, chose much of its schedule last spring, and made only a few alterations.
That's why BC, in fifth place in the standings and a potential sixth-place finisher, got as many CBS appearances as Miami and Syracuse and more than Tech (3) and WVU (2).
Only the Hurricanes ($1.31 million) will earn more TV dollars through the Big East plan than Boston College ($1.185 million) this season. Syracuse follows ($1.06 million), with Tech ($826,250) and West Virginia ($717,000) fourth and fifth, respectively. Adding CBS, ESPN and ESPN2 dates, BC led the league with nine ``network'' TV games, including an ABC visit to Michigan. The Hokies and Mountaineers were fourth and fifth on that list, too.
The Hokies are earning about $269,000 less from TV than last year. Thanks to the new CBS and ESPN contracts, however, every Big East team - including Temple, which didn't appear except on the Big East package - will get more TV bucks than last year.
CBS is paying the Big East $11.2 million for football this year, with ESPN chipping in $4.25 million. The conference formula pays each school $233,750 for a CBS date and $125,000 for an ESPN appearance. Subtracting those appearance fees, the TV revenue pot - being shared for the first time in Big East history - is $9.87 million. That's $1.233 million per school.
That's why conferences made their own deals and put the CFA out of business. It doesn't mean most of the public is seeing the best games, however. For instance, while Miami's last-minute victory at West Virginia was on ESPN against Game 6 of the World Series on Fox, CBS showed BC-Syracuse, a 45-17 thumping, that October afternoon.
In college football, being good doesn't mean you'll get maximum exposure. There is no question the conferences are richer than in the CFA decade, however. Last year, the Big East was paid $7.3 million in TV dollars. This year, the figure is almost $15.5 million. Now, the league has to figure out a way to get the best games to the largest potential audience.
NOT SO BIG: It seems the Virginia-Virginia Tech game, moved to Thanksgiving Friday by CBS, isn't quite so gargantuan outside the state. Although the Cavaliers and Hokies will enter Friday's game (2:30 p.m., WDBJ) both ranked for the fourth consecutive year, the network is sending the first battle for the Commonwealth Cup to 38 percent of the nation.
CBS is sending an SEC game, with LSU (7-2) meeting Arkansas (3-6) at Little Rock, to 62 percent. ABC has the game of national attraction in the same time slot - Colorado-Nebraska, a national telecast (2:30 p.m., WSET).
Leading to the UVa-Tech telecast, WDBJ is producing a live, half-hour preview show from Lane Stadium. ``Another 100 Years of Excitement,'' hosted by Channel 7 sports director Mike Stevens, airs at 2 p.m. On Thursday night at 7:30, WSLS (Channel 10) will produce ``Grudge Match,'' a 30-minute special on the Hokies-Cavaliers meeting.
IN THE RING: The revelation by ESPN officials that Friday night's ``Brawl Beneath the Star'' boxing card on ESPN2 will not be blacked out within a 100-mile radius from the Roanoke Civic Center is bad news for local promoters, who already are battling for an audience with the Thanksgiving weekend, the busiest shopping day of the year and the date of the UVa-Tech football game.
The word is that fewer than 300 tickets have been sold to date. ESPN's primary boxing telecast team won't come to Roanoke, either. Bob Papa and Al Bernstein have next weekend off, so the two-hour telecast, including Thomas Hearns' return to the ring, will be called by Larry Michael and Dave Bontempo.
AROUND THE DIAL: The Roanoke Times will publish the live college basketball telecast schedule on a weekly basis, starting today. The Virginia men's basketball season begins Monday in the Maui Classic against South Carolina, with a 4:30 p.m. (EST) tipoff (WROV, 1240 AM). It is the only Maui first-round game not televised by ESPN. TBS will have the special Suzuka Thunder 100, featuring NASCAR drivers, from Japan live tonight at 10. CBS college football studio analyst Danny Sheirdan said three of the eight Big East football coaches - BC's Dan Henning, Pitt's Johnny Majors and Temple's Ron Dickerson - would be fired at season's end. However, the Owls extended Dickerson's deal Thursday. Last Saturday's CBS late afternoon college football telecasts did a 3.4 rating, about the network season average, for the Tech-Miami and Auburn-Georgia games. The rating was boosted when the SEC game went four overtimes. The last half-hour of Auburn-Georgia had a 5.1 rating. NBC's golf team improved its handicap this week, replacing former NFL tight end Bob Trumpy with former PGA Tour regular Gary Koch. WRIS (1410 AM) will carry 25 regular-season University of Richmond basketball games, beginning with a Nov. 25 game at North Carolina.
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines KEYWORDS: 2DAby CNB