THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607100351
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HERTFORD LENGTH: 48 lines
A $52,500 contract to televise the Babe Ruth World Series in Manteo this summer has been signed by the Northeast Economic Development Commission and Home Team Sports of Bethesda, Md., a commercial TV producer.
Home Team Sports has agreed to televise the three concluding games of the Babe Ruth Series in Manteo on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24 and make the satellite feeds available to national TV networks.
But, warned the contract with the commission, ``Home Team Sports does not guarantee'' the Babe Ruth games will be carried by any large commercial TV stations.
The concluding semifinal Babe Ruth games will be played at Manteo High School on Aug. 23 with the championship game scheduled for the next day at 1:30 p.m.
Commission Chairman Jimmy Dixon said $200,000 has been earmarked since last year to promote the Babe Ruth games.
In addition to the money paid to Home Team Sports, another $50,000 may be needed to develop commercials to extol northeastern North Carolina if the games are nationally broadcast.
Ray E. Hollowell, a Dare County member of the pump-priming commission, negotiated last winter with Home Team Sports to televise the games.
``We are pleased that this is working out in a way that should be of national benefit to northeast North Carolina,'' said Hollowell, a Manteo developer.
Mary Lilley, a Northeast Commission member from Williamston, is developing the TV commercials for incorporation into Home Team Sports' coverage of the Babe Ruth games. Lilley is chairman of the tourism branch of the Northeast Economic Commission and is also head of the Williamston-Martin County Chamber of Commerce.
In Williamsburg, Va., John Wilcox, head of Metro Video Productions, confirmed that his TV firm had submitted a bid to make the commercials for the Babe Ruth World Series TV coverage.
Wilcox declined to reveal how much money his company will receive for the commercials ``but it wasn't $50,000,'' he said.
Chairman Dixon said the agreement with Home Team Sports called for payment of $26,250 to the Bethesda, Md., TV producer on or before July 23 and the remainder of the $52,500 by Sept. 23.
Home Team Sports said it would provide all technical TV equipment required to record the Babe Ruth games. The Maryland TV production company told the Northeast Economic Commission it would require 25 single-occupancy hotel rooms in the Manteo area during the Aug. 23-24 TV filming. by CNB