News items: ABC does not pick up its option on the Gator Bowl. CBS does not pick up its option on the Peach Bowl. NBC does not pick up its option on the Citrus Bowl. ABC bemoans the recent rating performances of the Sugar Bowl and expresses a desire to move it out of Jan. 1 prime time. And CBS says it is not yet certain it will pick up its option on the Sun Bowl, a decision the network must make within a month.
NBC`s Rose Bowl, that self-proclaimed Granddaddy Of Them All, has long been the New Year`s Day telecast all other networks feared to challenge. But the economic depression now affecting TV sports has resulted in many moves once considered heretical (see above), and so it is not surprising to learn that CBS is thinking the unthinkable. It is seriously considering going up against the Rose Bowl with a bowl of its own.
The prime candidate for that role currently is the Florida Citrus Bowl, which is out peddling itself after NBC refused to pay it the $500,000 rights fee called for in their contract.
The Peacock offered $400,000 instead, but Citrus officials rejected that bid for their 1986 game and last week traveled to New York for exploratory talks with the other two networks. ABC, which is in the throes of
reorganization, only listened politely, but CBS, which is reconsidering its whole bowl strategy, actively addressed the idea of taking on Granddaddy.
Don`t snicker. The idea is not as outlandish as it might seem, and a quick look at some facts will effectively explain why CBS is considering the move. First, and overriding all else, are the comparative rights fee payments: NBC (depending on the source) will pay between $9.5 and $11.5 million for the 1987 Rose Bowl; in contrast, CBS could get the Citrus for close to $500,000. That means, obviously, that CBS` sales force could sell advertising time easier and for far less than its NBC counterpart and that CBS` Citrus telecast could be an economic success with rating numbers far lower than those garnered by the Rose.
Then there is the Citrus itself, which now enjoys the status of the best non-New Year`s Day bowl game and a reputation for showing its visitors a good time. That already helps it woo attractive teams. Its $750,000 payout per team also is a lure, and that booty would certainly increase to at least a million if it moved from its current Dec. 27 date to Jan. 1. That added money would come not from television but from the Florida Citrus Commission–one of the game`s top sponsors and a rival of Sunkist, which subsidizes the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl and helps make it worth $1.15 million per team.
”Our bowl does not have a ratings problem. We did 40 percent better than the Sugar last year. Our bowl does not have an image problem. We were told we`re the most desirable game available,” Citrus head Charles Rohe said shortly after his trip to New York. ”But we`re No. 4 on NBC`s list (after the Fiesta, Rose and Orange) and, personally, I think that has something to do with its decision. Its sales people have trouble selling our product. But if we were the second game at CBS (after the Cotton), I think it would be easier to sell.”
Even against the Rose Bowl?
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”I don`t know. It`s been a sacred cow and that decision`s up to the networks. But just for an example, let`s surmise. What if we get Florida-Notre Dame or Alabama-Penn State in the Citrus Bowl, and the Rose Bowl gets Iowa, which is not the best national TV draw, against a surprise team like Oregon or Washington? Then you get one network paying $10.5 million and another paying less than a million, who wins? You don`t even have to win to win. That idea`s been discussed and, personally, I think someone can get a bargain-basement deal on New Year`s Day.”
”It`s both an opportunity and a problem,” CBS Sports president Peter Lund said later. ”Clearly, the Rose Bowl has a sizable audience, and if we put up a bowl against it, we could cut into its rating. At the same time, the Rose would be against us, and it would limit the rating we could get. But no, the Rose is certainly not sacrosanct with us. And sure, we certainly may do it. It has had the luxury of being unopposed, and the ratings it`s generated are a function of that luxury. That`s one of the things that precipitated our looking to challenge it. We thought, `Here`s a time period where we could make a dent.`
”But right now, we`re just doing homework internally to come up with a game plan that will allow us to make an offer. That`s when the fun starts. If our analysis says yes, put a bowl game up on New Year`s Day, then we`ll talk to some bowls about filling that slot and, concurrently, about how much we pay to do it. We haven`t gotten to that point yet. All our conversations have been generic . . . and it would be misleading to think that we`re ready to add another bowl at this point. Right now, the whole thing is goofy and convoluted. The bottom line to everything is this: We`re looking at the whole bowl picture and considering any and every possibility and contingency.”
— Other items in the mixed-up bowl: An ABC vice president went on a solo mission to New Orleans last year and tried to talk Sugar Bowl officials into moving their 1986 game to either New Year`s afternoon or New Year`s Eve prime time. His plea was rebuffed, and for the third straight year, the Sugar was whomped in the ratings by the Orange Bowl. In that stretch, the Sugar has decreased from 8.8 (1984) to 7.2 (1985) to 6.8 (1986) compared to the Orange`s 23.5, 16.9 and 21.3. . . . ABC is paying $4.5 million for the rights to the 1987 Sugar Bowl, the last covered under their current contract. Negotiations on a future deal are scheduled for later this year, and you can be certain ABC will again push Sugar officials to switch the starting time of their 1987 game.
With television money drying up, many bowls–including the Gator and the Holiday–are out looking for corporate sponsors willing to buy TV ad time in exchange for corporate identification. This money-making ploy–which is destined to become a familiar tactic in the world of TV sports–already is used by any number of golf and tennis tournaments as well as the Sunkist Fiesta and Florida Citrus bowls. (Before getting its sponsor, the latter was called the Tangerine Bowl.) . . . And with television money drying up, look for some bowls to go the way of the pterodactyl. Why this most pleasant thought? Without a lucrative TV contract, many will be hard-pressed to find $500,000 for each of their competing teams–and that is the minimum payout a bowl must make to be sanctioned by the NCAA.