Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 15, 1993 TAG: 9305150029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The sport's so-called "joint venture" with NBC and ABC means less money for owners, less identity for the networks and less games for viewers, too. Baseball's club owners concede that they have a problem selling their game.
What they don't see, even in the mirror, is that they are the problem. In what other sport do the owners constantly denigrate their stars, their image-makers, as greedy ingrates? Then, they wonder why their television ratings are at an all-time low.
On Thursday, some owners tried another option - no more lucrative - by trying to let CBS back into the ballpark. Some of the larger-market teams, led by Yankees boss George Steinbrenner, say the diminished dollars with NBC and ABC don't make sense.
The reason is simple: If every club finds its network TV dollars cut in half, then it stands to figure that the major-market clubs will be forced into revenue-sharing on their more lucrative local TV contracts, too. Right now, that may be the least of the game's problems.
Some facts and analysis:
Since 1969, when baseball moved to divisional play in the American and National leagues, viewers have been able to watch national telecasts of all postseason games. Under the NBC and ABC deal that's proposed for 1994-99, the two league championship series will be regionalized for the first five games, then have staggered starting times to expose more of Games 6 and 7. There will be no alternating-day format that is now used, in which one league starts its LCS a day before the other to create more prime-time TV.
Yes, the plan does keep the playoffs off cable and on "free" TV. Yes, the ratings for LCS telecasts have fallen 37 percent since 1985. Yes, viewers in club markets or their regions will see the games involving that team. However, baseball didn't become the national pastime with regional exposure.
Using Roanoke as an example, if Baltimore is in the AL playoffs and Atlanta in the NLCS, viewers here will be able to see only one of those clubs in the playoffs (likely the Orioles), not counting the few cut-ins to the other game that will leave any good baseball fan dissatisfied. What viewers see will be decided by the networks and their affiliate stations in each market.
Baseball's image, in the eyes of youngsters, has been eroding for years. The game has been criticized for postseason games that start too late for kids to see much more than the first pitch. However, in the proposed contract, no telecast will start earlier than 7:20 p.m.
The proposed extra tier of playoffs, prior to the LCS, needs approval from the players' union. The union is unhappy it wasn't consulted about the TV plan beforehand, so the potential for a players' strike is enhanced for 1994 - unless the owners lock the players out, another distinct possibility.
Those new playoffs are likely to spawn the realignment of each league into three divisions, and the expansion of each league by one team (to 15) - thereby alleviating the game's legal problems with the Giant snubbing of Tampa Bay. They also will make the season several days longer.
This TV plan, however, may force the owners to control their spending on player salaries. This season, the last in telecast contracts with CBS and ESPN and a radio deal with CBS, 26 clubs - excepting expansionists Florida and Colorado - are sharing $401 million from the networks. Next year, even after new cable TV and radio deals are signed, that figure will fall to about $200 million, divided by 28.
So, each club will receive less than half of the network revenue of this year - down from $15.4 million to $7.15 million. With that amount, San Francisco can't even pay Barry Bonds' 1994 base salary.
With the average about $30 million in player salaries per club this season, the owners will need to make cuts somewhere. On Opening Day this season, the 28 teams already had signed contracts to pay $515 million to 196 players in '94 and $1.1 billion through 1998.
The networks love the deal because they're paying no rights fees and only $3 million each for start-up costs, while the majors pay $9 million. NBC and ABC may show little profit on baseball during the next five years, but that's preferable to the $500-million loss CBS has taken in four years on a $1.06 billion contract.
CBS netted $151 million in advertising on the baseball package last season. Baseball claims it can exceed that, but the networks receive small shares of the profit, too. In 1994, the split is 88 percent to baseball and 6 percent each to NBC and ABC. In the following five years, the split is 80-10-10, with baseball getting the bulk.
Baseball keeps 88 percent of the first $160 million in ad revenue, $10 million of the next $30 million, and then 80 percent of all profits exceeding $190 million. Baseball's television committee is predicting that baseball will net in the $145 million range for each of the first two years of the ABC-NBC deal.
Besides the numbers, what does this deal mean?
Local club telecast packages, and the dollars they yield, will be more crucial. The Cubs' games on WGN, the Braves' telecasts on WTBS and the Orioles' appearances on Home Team Sports become more valuable, particularly because the national cable package will be cut from six to three games weekly.
It also means - despite club owners' denials - that viewers are being set up for pay-per-view baseball by 2000, when the game will likely establish its own television network. Every game is televised somewhere. That's an inventory that can be tapped, and if a fan wants a Marlins' game, paying $5 for it is a likely option.
If that fan wants the other LCS game than the one he's receiving from the network, he can pay, too. Congress will be watching closely. Along with taking a huge loss in attempting to rebuild its telecast presence, baseball has succeeded in bringing even more Capitol Hill scrutiny of its antitrust exemption with this proposed TV deal.
To players, to advertisers, to viewers, to politicos, baseball's future figures to be a very tough sell.
by CNB