As the National Hockey League takes its midseason break, Blackhawks fans can ponder their future as likely guinea pigs in the Brave New World of pay-per-view sports. If the pieces fall into place, that is.
As it stands, Hawks President William Wirtz has a few weeks to decide whether he wants to put the team`s home playoff games this spring on pay-TV. And Jim Corno, general manager of SportsChannel (which would produce those telecasts in addition to their regular games) is leaving the decision to Wirtz.
”We`re closer than we`ve ever been,” said Corno. ”But we`ve been close before and it fell apart for a number of reasons.” Added Wirtz: ”We don`t have anything set yet.”
If he puts the Hawks playoff home games on pay-TV, it won`t be the first time hockey from the Stadium has been available at home.
”We started out in 1981 with SportsVision as a pay channel,” said Wirtz. That package included up to 15 home contests, including some playoff games. But when SportsVision went to basic cable, eventually changing to SportsChannel, Wirtz took away the home games. He was looking ahead.
”You have to look at the future,” Wirtz said recently. ”We`re looking at (pay-per-view) this year for the future, the same way we did in 1980.”
Wirtz, who didn`t want to be the first NHL owner to jump into the pay-TV pool, said he doesn`t expect much adverse reaction to his plans because
”Minnesota did it last year. Detroit and other clubs are doing it right now. All leagues are thinking about it.”
Corno agreed, saying SportsChannel has received calls from fans who are willing to pay extra for the home games.
”If we went pay-per-view, the public couldn`t complain to us,” added Wirtz, ”because they never had it for free. I`ve always said the people who have kept us in business are the season-reservation holders and we`ll never sell them down the river. I`m consistent.”
But Corno cautioned, ”Obviously, there`s going to be some negative reaction. Somebody`s going to take potshots because it`s the Hawks, because it`s Bill Wirtz. But we`ve been trying to get Bill to look at (pay-TV) for years.”
And Wirtz has been tempted, because home games on pay-TV would fit into his marketing philosophy.
”We`ve never given away home games,” Wirtz said. ”We believe the survival of hockey has always been season reservations. We serve the people who buy season reservations. That`s how we`ve been able to survive and other people haven`t.”
More Top Picks Best Blue Light Glasses For Office Workers
Wirtz, too, blamed former officials at WGN-Ch. 9, which telecast Hawks road games for several seasons, for part of his predicament.
”I was at WGN for years and years and years,” he said. ”I got dumped
(after Bobby Hull jumped to the World Hockey Association). I had to rebuild this thing myself with a lot of time and patience. I`m happy now. I didn`t make that decision; WGN made that decision.
”They (former WGN executives) gave me $100,000 (for rights) and they made $2.4 million. Not bad. I know because I`ve examined the books. The only way I survived in the `70s was on gate receipts. We started (SportsVision)
ourselves and lost $12 million.
”We would never have started SportsVision (if WGN hadn`t dropped Hawks road telecasts). We had to build our own TV station, put those towers on top of Sears building at $5 million so we could get our product into the home. That`s a lot of money.”
And Wirtz can`t return to WGN, where he has mended fences, because ”we have a commitment until 1999 with SportsChannel.” And now SportsChannel can offer Wirtz the technology to bring home games to the thousands of fans who can`t get to the Stadium. Whether he`ll bite or not is up in the air.
”We`ve got to know something in the next two weeks,” said Corno.
”It`s a whole new world out there,” said Wirtz. ”You have to look at the method of delivery into homes.”
WTTW-Ch. 11 presents the first over-the-air showing of Bud Greenspan`s documentary ”16 Days to Glory: Calgary 1988” at 1 p.m. Sunday with additional footage not seen before. A 2 1/2-hour version of the film aired previously on The Disney Channel. While ”Calgary” is split into four one-hour segments, Channel 11 will show them consecutively.
”It`s been a long journey for me,” said Greenspan, who began his sports film career nearly 30 years ago. Since then, he-and his wife, Cappy, until she died over a year ago-documented international events ranging from a history of the Olympics to Heisman Trophy specials.
”I remember what Jesse Owens told me about his thoughts before the 100-meters in Berlin,” Greenspan recalled. ”He said, `It was a lifetime of training for 10 seconds.` I try to pay honor to thousands (of Olympic athletes) who spend 3 3/4 years preparing for that 10 seconds or four minutes. This film is based on what Jesse said.”
Tuesday night`s Ohio State-Indiana telecast had a 3.4 rating, making it the most-watched college basketball game on ESPN this season. . . . WGN Radio`s Randy Minkoff hosts a Bears year-end wrapup at 6:30 p.m. Sunday with Wayne Larrivee, Hub Arkush, Gary Fencik and Trace Armstrong. On Saturday, Minkoff also tips off the city university version of his ”Score 720” trivia contest at 6 p.m., featuring teams from De Paul, Loyola, Northwestern and Illinois-Chicago.