Friday, August 23, 2002
Fox's Goren on strike: 'A deal to be made.'
If not, Fox insured for losses
By Rudy Martzke
USA TODAY
Although the rhetoric intensifies with the Aug. 30 baseball strike date approaching, Fox Sports President Ed Goren remains optimistic the season won't be thumbed out early - despite potential financial benefits for the network if the slate is scratched.
“All along I have really believed, in talking to both sides, that everybody understands what a strike could mean to baseball,” Goren said Thursday. “I've been confident all along they'll reach an agreement, and I don't feel any different today. There's a deal to be made that will satisfy both sides.”
In the second year of a six-year, $2.5 billion deal, Fox pays baseball $416.7 million a year. With most of the value of the contract situated in the postseason, Fox would figure to receive a huge hit in the wallet if the playoffs and World Series are wiped out.
But unlike the 1994 strike, when ABC and NBC did not have strike protection as part of the Baseball Network, Fox negotiated solid protection in this deal.
In fact, Fox could wind up with more than $500 million in rebates or compensation from baseball, a sum that exceeds its rights fee.
Here's why Goren does not appear as perplexed with the lords of the game as he could be if Fox had not gotten strike protection:
• If a strike ensues, Fox must continue to make its rights fee payments. But baseball would have to reimburse Fox for any lost games and cover any advertising shortages. If the strike lasts through the postseason, the bill to baseball could reach $300 million.
• In addition, under a penalty clause in Fox's contract, if ratings and advertising decline following a strike, Fox can take these future losses to an arbitrator, who could award as much as $230 million in damages. Baseball's payment to Fox probably would be prorated in future rights fees.
The same protection is owned by ESPN, TBS and ABC Family, which also have national baseball deals.
“We recognize there are some outstanding issues to be resolved,” said Rich Levin, baseball's public relations vice president, “but we're hopeful this gets resolved.” And how.
Bag the BCS
ESPN televises Friday night's Fresno State-Wisconsin game in this earliest college football season, and the Bowl Championship Series poll can't be far off.
ABC's Brent Musburger, who will call the Fiesta Bowl national title game, knocks the controversial BCS poll that was criticized for not selecting the two best teams in each of the last two years.
“A fan asked me, 'Why do we use computers when the two polls (AP media and USA TODAY/ESPN coaches) agree?' as they did last year on No. 1 Miami and No. 2 Oregon,” Musburger says.
“That's what we should do, go back to using just the two polls and then bring in the BCS poll if a tiebreaker is needed.”
ABC's Brad Nessler, who teams with Bob Griese on Saturday's Texas Tech-Ohio State game, says, “I liked (former BCS head) John Swofford's idea of a 'common sense' panel of experts to correct pairings that don't make sense, but that was dropped.”
So should the BCS poll.
• File this: New ESPN college studio analyst Trev Alberts picks Georgia to win the Southeastern Conference and says, “The Big Ten champ would finish in the middle of the pack in the SEC and Big 12.” Maybe he needs a “common sense” panel.
Around the dial
Vince Carter and TNT's Charles Barkley will join co-chairmen Dick Vitale and John Saunders of ESPN and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski at the weekend's Jimmy V golf classic in Cary, N.C., with a goal of raising more than $1 million for the V Foundation for cancer research. ... Kelly Tripucka and TNT's Dick Stockton are among the candidates to broadcast the New Jersey Nets on the YES Network. Stockton and Hubie Brown are expected to team for 15 to 20 NBA games on TNT. ... Turner Sports President Mark Lazarus denies a swap of Wimbledon cable rights to ESPN for the British Open. “If we do acquire the British Open (TNT probably would carry cable shows all four days), it has nothing to do with Wimbledon.” ... NBC's Mike McCarley said the network and its CNBC and MSNBC cable partners will televise more hours from the 2004 Athens Olympics than the 441 1/2 hours from Sydney in 2000.
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Fox's Goren on strike: 'A deal to be made.'
