Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993 TAG: 9312210093
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
NBC will continue to televise American Conference games, as it has done since the merger between the NFL and AFL in 1970. CBS, outbid by Fox Television Network for the National Conference, was the NFL's original network.
"We got it," said Ed Markey, an NBC spokesman. The four-year deal, which begins in 1994, also gave NBC two Super Bowls, in 1996 and 1998.
On Friday night, the NFL dropped one of the biggest bombshells in the history of televised sports when it confirmed reports that Fox's bid of $1.58 billion over four years had wrested the prestigious NFC package from CBS and won the 1997 Super Bowl.
On Sunday, the NFL announced that ABC retained the rights to "Monday Night Football" and would air the 1995 Super Bowl. ESPN and TNT will continue to split Sunday night games.
"We made more than a reasonable effort to continue our NFL relationship, but there was no way we could match the competing offer," CBS said in a statement after NBC won the AFC rights.
"Needless to say, we do not accept lightly or without a deep sense of professional and personal loss, the current ending of the league's long and very productive relationship with CBS Sports," NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said in a letter to CBS President Neal Pilson.
A source familiar with the negotiations said that in general terms, the total package represents an increase of approximately 20 percent over the current $3.62 billion package. The breakdown of each part of the package was not immediately known, but it was believed that NBC retained the AFC with a bid of about $220 million per year. CBS said that it bid $250 million per year for the same package, but was turned down. There reportedly was sentiment on the NFL broadcast committee to retain NBC as the AFC broadcaster, even if CBS made a late bid at a higher figure.
Just as Joe Namath gave the AFL respectability in 1969 by leading the New York Jets to a Super Bowl victory over NFL powerhouse Baltimore, Fox gained instant prestige by outbidding CBS for its portion of the NFL package.
The NFC has such glamour teams as the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, New York Giants and Washington Redskins and has won the past nine Super Bowls.
"Fox will create a state-of-the-art sports division and broadcasting center dedicated completely to the NFL," Tagliabue said.
Originally, a new football deal was expected to be in place by the summer. The only agreement the NFL could reach, however, was on the 1994 Super Bowl, which went to NBC as the only bidder for an estimated $41 million.
At the time, NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol predicted bids on a new deal would be about 75 percent of what they were for the past four years. He didn't count on Fox. The upstart network's bid on the NFC was $502 million more than what CBS paid during the previous contract, and about $400 million more than it bid this time.
Thus, the high-roller's worst nightmare came full circle for CBS. It was CBS that wrested major-league baseball from NBC and ABC in 1989 for a pre-emptive price tag of $1.057 billion over four years.
"Obviously, we are delighted," Ebersol said. "And I'm particularly pleased about it because I can say NBC not only will televise the NBA, but the the NFL, the next Summer Olympics and major league baseball as well."
CBS' competitors, especially NBC, vilified Pilson for driving the cost of rights fees through the ceiling. A few months later, the three networks, ESPN and TNT signed a $3.62 billion, four-year deal with the NFL that the industry blamed on CBS, as well.
by CNB