CBS made big news last week when it agreed to pay $1 billion over seven years for exclusive rights to the NCAA basketball tournament, but the contract poses a few questions:
– First, what will it mean to viewers who have gotten used to seeing virtually every first-round game with ESPN in the picture?
– Second, does this deal indicate a trend away from cable TV? Two of the principals have different opinions about that.
– Third, what will the NCAA do with the money? There are many theories on this subject, but the final verdict won`t be rendered until the NCAA convention in January.
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But first things first. This season, ESPN will televise 30 of the 32 first-round games, some live, most on tape. But eventually every qualifying team will have its moment in the sun, or moonlight as the case may be.
CBS will do it differently, scheduling afternoon and prime-time double-headers on a regional basis, but no taped coverage.
Thus, Chicago viewers can count on seeing Illinois, De Paul, Indiana, Notre Dame and any other Big 10 and Midwest team that local affiliate WBBM-TV (Channel 2) can fit into those eight first-round ”exposures.”
What Chicago viewers probably won`t get a chance to see, however, would be games such as last season`s Georgetown-Princeton thriller. But, then again, how many of those 30 games do you actually watch on ESPN?
”You can`t have it both ways,” said Neal Pilson, CBS Sports president.
”We will have far greater reach than ESPN was able to generate on cable.”
What Pilson wants to avoid is a scheduling conflict that would have any of those regional teams playing at the same time.
”We`ll have the same policy we`ve had in the past with the NCAA,” said Pilson. ”They will schedule games in consultation with us.”
For $1 billion, CBS probably should have the right to do a little
”consulting.”
Pilson was reluctant to say that this deal could be seen as part of a trend away from cable.
”I hesitate to say that it`s part of a grand strategy to get back at cable,” Pilson said. ”Virtually every sport has its cable package. In this situation, we felt the tournament had grown so much in stature that the first round could be supported on national TV.”
But NCAA Executive Director Dick Schultz thought otherwise.
”The entire tournament will now be seen on over-the-air, free television,” he said, ”which is a new statement. It`s a trend away from pay television, and we`re pleased to cooperate on that.”
But what`s to prevent events themselves, in this case the NCAA, from producing their own package and selling on a pay-per-view basis? Cut out the middle man (the networks and even the cable companies) and rake in all the profits.
”If somebody takes the risk, and it works, others will follow,” said Jim Corno, general manager of SportsChannel Chicago. ”Today`s climate (in Congress and elsewhere) would not allow that to happen.”
But it`s getting close. In 1992, NBC, in conjunction with SportsChannel America, plans to offer some Summer Olympics coverage on a pay-per-view basis. ”At some point, they have to look at the property and see what it`s worth,” Corno said. ”Then will the leagues take to pay-per-view to make more money? I don`t know. I can`t look into the future with that much certainty.” What is certain about this deal is that the NCAA is faced with a surplus beyond its wildest dreams. Although Pilson said the contract was heavily weighted in its last few years, the average still is $143 million, compared to the current deal of $55 million a year. How will the NCAA handle its monetary windfall?
”We plan to challenge the membership to come up with creative ways to distribute these funds,” Schultz said. ”We want to take pressures off coaches and off athletes. We want to eliminate the comment about the $400,000 free throw. We want to see these dollars go back and serve higher education and intercollegiate athletics in the very purest form.”
To analyst Billy Packer, who has been with CBS since it took the NCAA tournament rights away from NBC in 1981, the $1 billion deal was overwhelming. ”I know how hard people at CBS have worked on this from top to bottom,” he said. ”It`s a special event. When I went over to CBS, it was something new. We`ve become kind of a family. In addition, I`m glad their energy will be rewarded.”
To analyst Dick Vitale, the deal was heartbreaking. Vitale, who thinks Packer is ”too vanilla,” cut his broadcasting teeth on ESPN and was hoping ABC, his other employer, could steal ”the big dance.” But the ABC offer fell short.
”It hurts a little not being part of the package,” Vitale said. ”I can`t blame the NCAA. You have to get the best deal. I was hoping to get a piece of the pie. I know how hard (ABC Sports President) Dennis Swanson and
(programming director) Jack O`Hara worked. I felt bad for them.”
Packer, Vitale and NBC analyst Bucky Waters have ideas about how the NCAA should spend its money.
”A cap should be put on making the tournament,” said Packer. ”The rest (should go) to the schools represented in the NCAA, except those on probation. That would send out a strong message to schools on probation.”
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Waters, who also works as a fundraiser for Duke, agreed with the cap idea, adding, ”I hope (the surplus) is used to increase funds in areas where universities need the money, such as science buildings.”
Waters and Vitale also suggested some of the money find its way into the athletes` pockets.
”Kids today deserve more than room, board and books,” Vitale said.
”The game is dominated by the inner-city athlete, yet we`ve got kids who come into situations where they can`t even pay for their plane ticket back and forth to their college and it`s illegal for the school to give you that. Why shouldn`t that be part of the scholarship? These kids deserve to dress and look good.”
Vitale, who said Schultz ”is good people” who has the athletes` welfare at heart, saw more than just TV dollars involved with the tournament.
”Take Seton Hall (last season`s runner-up), for example,” he said.
”They get the big bucks for making the Final Four. Now it means fundraisers, now it means all kinds of souvenirs, now it means `Roast Vitale Night` at $250 a person, 500 people. If they`re not a success, do you think they`d have me in to roast me? Do you think they`d make that kind of bucks?” Schultz, good people or not, has a huge challenge facing him. And it`s measured in more than dollar signs.