ABC Sports no longer king of the dial
By Bob Keisser
SportsLine Sports Writer
What in the wide, wide world of sports is happening at ABC?
Today, ABC Sports has become the stepbrother of ESPN in the Disney Co. family tree. When Disney bought the network from Capital Cities, Michael Eisner gleefully basked in the acquisition of ESPN. He was as jazzed to get the cable sports network as he was the entire over-the-air network.
And in the process, ABC Sports has been devalued as badly as the Canadian dollar.
ABC still has Monday Night Football, but Disney let the contract lapse of Dan Dierdorf, one of their few name talents. It still has the best parts of college football, but Keith Jackson has just retired.
THE NETWORK WILL ADD THE NHL TO ITS marquee next season, but in Disney's eyes, the over-the-air package is almost a supplement to ESPN's package. ABC has no hand at all in Major League Baseball, the NBA, the Olympic Games and tennis' grand slam.
This week, ABC signed on to air the latest addition to the roster of Performance Sport: a made-for-TV two-man golf match between Tiger Woods and David Duval. It's not really sports if it doesn't matter who wins, and that's the case here.
Each golfer gets a hefty appearance fee and a portion of proceeds go to charity. Plus, ABC plans to show this event taped in prime time.
At the same time that new division president Howard Katz signs this non-sport, other networks are taking aim at plucking off real ABC properties up for renewal. ABC's contract for the Triple Crown series is up after next month's Belmont, and NBC and Fox are interested -- NBC because it needs more inventory after being locked out of the NFL, and Fox because Rupert Murdoch believes in the more-the-merrier theory.
THE CONTRACT FOR THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 is also up after this month's race. While the event has been badly damaged by the feud between CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) and those running the Indy Racing League, NASCAR has made TV bullish on auto racing of any kind.
With NASCAR preparing to bundle its series in future TV negotiations, there will be clear winners and losers TV-wise, and those on the losing side will be even more inclined to bid high for events like the Indy 500.
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| Long gone are the days when Howard Cosell and ABC were the best in the business.(Allsport) |
There is a rationale for Disney in the way it treats ABC Sports and ESPN. The former is supported by ad dollars alone, and the over-the-air marketplace suffers from audience decline. ESPN, on the other hand, is supported by ads as well as cable fees, and it has become a cash cow.
But that shouldn't be the reason to let a division that once was the envy of the industry become the broadcast equivalent of a slum. If Cosell were alive today, he would vilify what Disney has let ABC Sports become -- and Disney would let his contract expire.
Once around the remote
The Olympic scandal has had an impact on sponsorships the IOC and USOC have with major companies, with several pulling support and others saying they will review their commitment. Thus far, NBC Sports says there has been no problem with any of their institutional advertisers. NBC, which will broadcast the next five Olympics, signed multiple-Olympic exclusive deals with major advertisers after it landed the package, and they are all still aboard. They include General Motors, Visa, Home Depot, McDonald's, Anheuser-Busch, IBM, Samsung and AT&T. NBC is also close to finalizing deals with Honda and Texaco. Two long-time Olympic advertisers, Kodak and Coca-Cola, have yet to sign on. Both have had relationships in the past with the United States Olympic Committee as well. ...
It's a real sign of the times when sports-related ads are as entertaining as the events. Two new spots stand out. An ESPN promo has Mark McGwire giving his 70th home-run ball to SportsCenter anchor Dan Patrick, who says he is touched and will treasure the momento. Next scene: Patrick drives up to ESPN studios in a souped up sports car with the license plate "HR 70." The other is a hilarious Nike ad, one of a series of baseball spots, shows Atlanta's Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine miffed at two sweeties giving all of their attention to McGwire's batting practice home runs. Maddux yells, "Hey, Cy Young winners over here.'' From there, both go through rigorous practice to become hitters, and finally get some attention after their own BP hammering, only to have one of the ladies still say, "Have you guys seen Mark?'' Has there ever been an advertising campaign as long-lasting and successful as Nike's sports series? ...
NBC's NBA coverage of first-round playoff series last weekend took a hit in the ratings, its pair of triple-headers averaging 5.3, down 16 percent from the first weekend of playoff a year ago. NBC blames Mother's Day and blowouts for the decline. The Lakers-Rockets game Sunday had the highest Nielsen of the six, a 7.2. All six games did at least a 4.5. ...
NBC deserves to take a hit for its runaway promotion of prime-time events and specials during NBA games. It seems Bob Costas is pimping some prime-time show every five minutes. And on that subject, while Costas and Doug Collins have found a rhythm to their work on games, Costas has a tendency to talk too much. Baseball's rhythm allows for leisurely analysis, but basketball doesn't. Costas' attempts to play setup and foil for Collins winds up sounding like clutter. ...
It took three years, but NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol finally acknowledged he erred in not showing enough women's basketball, soccer and softball games in the 1996 Olympics. He said as much by noting this week that those sports would get ample coverage on NBC's Olympic cable spilloff. ...
ESPN's Sports Century series has this far been credible and well done. But Mickey Mantle ranked 37th? No other ballplayer meant as much to a generation as Mantle did to the baby boomers, and ESPN will have a hard time defending Nolan Ryan, Cal Ripken and Mark McGwire -- regardless of their accomplishment -- being ranked higher
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