ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 7, 1996 TAG: 9612090029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: ON THE AIR
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
In the drama department, the revelation of the Bowl Alliance picks pales to the ``Selection Sunday'' sizzle of the NCAA Tournament.
The reasons are obvious. The alliance includes only three bowls, four conferences and six picks. Even stretching the potential field for its possibilities Sunday (5:30 p.m., WDBJ), no more than nine schools have an alliance opportunity 24 hours before the CBS show.
The basketball bracket involves 64 teams going to eight sites, about half of those at-large picks, and another 15 or so who usually end up on the wrong side of the bubble. There's also more history in the hoops, and its a national tournament - no Rose Bowlers playing their own game.
However, there is potential for some spice in the Bowl Alliance selections this year. If Brigham Young wins the Western Athletic Conference title today (4:30 p.m., WSET) and is 13-1 and still is snubbed by the Fiesta Bowl, more than Cougars coach LaVell Edwards will be sounding like one of those 20-win basketball coaches who get their bubbles burst before being launched into March Madness and the NIT.
It seems that lobbying by the Big 12 Conference has Colorado (9-2) on the verge of getting a Fiesta berth. CBS, which televises the Fiesta, is said to want the Buffaloes in the game against Penn State, rather than BYU. It's about ratings, and CBS saw how the Nebraska-Colorado national telecast on ABC eight days ago killed the split of Virginia-Virginia Tech and LSU-Arkansas in the Nielsens.
Of course, an Alabama upset of Florida in today's Southeastern Conference championship (8 p.m., WSET) could leave the Fiesta without the tough choice. If Nebraska wins the Big 12 title game over Texas (1 p.m., WSET), as expected, then the Fiesta would take Penn State with the third alliance pick.
The Orange has the fourth pick, and would take Florida, even with two straight losses, as an at-large choice, to play the Big East champion Hokies. The Orange hasn't seen the Gators since the 1966 season, since current coach Steve Spurrier was a UF senior and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. The Fiesta would then get SEC champ Alabama against the Nittany Lions.
However, if Florida wins tonight, the potential for some alliance excitement - and a lawsuit by the Western Athletic Conference, supporting BYU - is there. If Colorado is picked, the Bowl Alliance will show that it's really not about getting the most-deserving teams into the best games, but about marketing and Nielsen ratings.
THE OL' ONE-TWO: The poll-changing game last Saturday between Florida and Florida State had the highest Nielsen rating for a regular-season college football telecast in five years, since another Nos.1-2 battle of Sunshine State foes.
The Seminoles' victory over Florida did a 10.9 Nielsen for ABC. That's not only double the network's 1996 average rating, but is the highest since a 10.9 for Miami's 17-16 win over FSU on Nov.16, 1991, when, like this year, No.2 defeated No.1.
NUMBERS GAME: Entering today's conference championship tripleheader on ABC and the Army-Navy game on CBS (noon, WDBJ), the Nielsen race between the two networks is a runaway. ABC has a 5.4 (percentage of U.S. TV homes) for its package combining the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Pacific 10 and WAC. CBS has only a 3.2 for its SEC and Big East games. NBC drew a 3.4 for its Notre Dame home dates.
The aforementioned Nebraska-Colorado game eight days ago on ABC (6.9 Nielsen) had three times the viewers of the split-national arrangement of UVa-Tech and LSU-Arkansas on CBS (2.3).
$$$ AND SENSE: The U.S. network rights fees for the Olympics continue to climb, but the cable deal struck with CBS by Turner Broadcasting this week is a comparative steal. After paying $30 million for cable rights at the 1994 Lillehammer Games, Turner's TNT is getting U.S. cable rights to the Nagano Games in 1998 for only $10 million.
TNT will show mostly taped, non-medal competition over its 50 weekday hours, although some hockey and skiing will air live. CBS, which paid $375 million for Nagano rights - up $80 million from the last Winter Games in Norway - will show approximately 120 hours.
RING THING: The Nov.29 pro boxing card at the Roanoke Civic Center may have drawn a paltry 963 spectators, but the two-hour telecast on ESPN2 headed by the Thomas Hearns-Karl Willis bout performed well. The show did a 1.2 cable rating, 33 percent above the two other fight shows on the ``Deuce'' in November. The 1.2 equals 480,000 homes.
AROUND THE DIAL: Today's Group AA Division 4 football title game between Salem and Sherando at Victory Stadium will be broadcast on two local radio stations at 1:30 p.m. - WSLC (610 AM) and WRIS (1410 AM). ... In the December issue of ``Golf Digest,'' PGA and LPGA players ripped Brent Musburger as ABC's golf host to a greater extent than viewers did in a recent poll. Whether the network is listening or not, it is pulling Musburger from the 18th-hole tower for Mike Tirico, who will continue to host ``NFL Prime Monday'' on ESPN. Tirico will team with Curtis Strange, the network's new analyst. ... The Senior Skins Game field is set for Super Bowl weekend (Jan.25-26) on ABC, with Ray Floyd seeking his fourth straight title, against Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Hale Irwin. ... ESPN's annual college football awards show airs at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, with 10 awards - not the Heisman - to be handed out. The network's NFL Pro Bowl players one-hour selection show precedes the two-hour college program.
LENGTH: Medium: 95 linesby CNB