An estimated billion people-2 billion eyeballs-will be fixed on televisions around the globe to savor the glitzy opening ceremonies of the World Cup, broadcast live Friday from Soldier Field.
But while the world watches the half-hour, $2 million extravaganza, Chicago can mope. Unless something changes by showtime, few around here will be able to watch it on TV without a near-heroic effort.
The only local outlet-barring last-minute maneuverings that were still unresolved Wednesday-is WFBT-Ch. 23, a low-power Spanish-language station with all the broadcast bounce of a deflated soccer ball.
In other words, despite the hyped efforts to give the World Cup ceremonies Olympic proportions, apparently the first U.S. reaction to the international spectacle is a big yawn.
Try telling that to the 2,000 Chicagoland amateur dancers and singers-most of them teenagers-who have practiced for months for their moments of glory. And if you think the kids are steamed, talk to their mothers, who have told every friend and neighbor to tune in at 1:20 p.m. Friday.
Instead of Elgin’s Elise Sivilay in a red-, white- and blue-sequinned top and white satin shorts, you might see some country club types in Izods and plaid pants whacking little white balls on ESPN.
Gloria Newell’s daughter, TyShea, 13, will be in a sparkling gold robe, and Newell was going to be in her own little parental glory. Or so she thought.
“I think it stinks,” said Newell, who was so excited about her daughter’s singing role in the show that she and her husband, Jasper, danced in the aisles during a dress rehearsal this week at Soldier Field.
“I think it’s rotten and totally unfair. This is a big event,” Newell said.
ESPN, which will broadcast the opening match between Germany and Bolivia at 2 p.m., took a pass on the opening gala, which will feature Diana Ross, President Clinton and Mayor Richard Daley; fireworks; ethnic dancing; and lots of transnational brotherhood.
The reason is another big event, one that happens every year: the U.S. Open golf tournament. More specifically, the all-important second round of the Open, which is popular with U.S. audiences still unmoved by men who perform ballet with a bigger ball without using their hands.
ESPN’s spinoff station, ESPN2, has other priorities during that time slot. A World Cup preview is one. A bodybuilding show is the other.
That leaves Miami-based Univision Broadcasting, owner of the Spanish-language rights in the U.S., as the only national network committed to airing the opening ceremonies.
But the local Univision outlet, WCIU-Ch. 26, kicked the event down to its weak-powered sibling, WFBT. WCIU’s stock market show was deemed too precious. At 2 p.m., WCIU will broadcast the game.
This means the ceremonies will be shown to only a select group of viewers.
If you live outside Cook County, you probably won’t be able to pick it up. If you live in or near a high-rise, you’re in trouble.
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And if you have cable, be prepared to do some determined fiddling: First, you have to unhook the cable. WFBT isn’t carried by the cable providers. It is a broadcast station that you get through a TV antenna. The bigger the antenna, the better, said station operations manager Troadio Satizabal, who has to juggle the rabbit ears on his set at his Northwest Side home to watch the station.
Asked about the advantages of tinfoil, Satizabal acknowledged, “That always works.”
Placing the TV near the window is a good idea, too, he said. “Get it close to a window and pray,” said Satizabal, who also is operations manager for WCIU. “Anyone can get a picture. It’s the quality of the picture that’s in question.”
He said he sympathized with ESPN’s programming dilemma, comparing it to his own. Cancel the stock report on WCIU, he said, and he would get irate calls.
“It’s very difficult to make people happy,” Satizabal said.
Parents with children in the opening ceremony-who are not exactly impartial observers-simply can’t fathom that the ceremonies would get such second-class coverage in the U.S. while foreign countries, using outlets such as the European Broadcast Union, accord it superstar status.
“I have relatives in Europe, in Holland, and they’ll be able to see my child perform. But I won’t,” said an angry Hilda Curda of Hanover Park, who has shuttled her 16-year-old daughter, Krystal, to 50 hours of practice over the last two months for her part in the dancing corps.
In fact, 90 percent of the performers, including emcee Oprah Winfrey, are from the Chicago area. Since most of their relatives couldn’t get or afford tickets to the ceremony and first match, they’ll have to rely on word-of-mouth reports to enjoy the performances of their offspring and loved ones.
There’s still a glimmer of hope for those here who consider the event a must-see attraction, not just an international version of a Super Bowl halftime song-and-dance fest.
ABC’s local affiliate, WLS-Ch. 7, was trying to cut through a lot of red tape and high-tech blather to get the OK to run the show.
“We’re trying to,” said program director Fran Preston. “There’s just a lot of logistical problems. . . . It’s very complicated.”
If you can’t find the ceremonies on television, here’s what you’ll miss.
A svelte Winfrey will open with the greeting, “Hello, world” to the 62,000 ticket holders in Soldier Field “and you, the over 1 billion international viewers in countries around the world.”
Hair-flinging Ross-whose staff calls her “Miss Ross,” not “Diana”-will sing a medley of four hits, including “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” and “Ain’t Nobody.”
Daley will get 35 seconds, according to the script, for a welcome that declares Chicago “the city that is second to none” and invites everyone to experience the city’s “pulsing rhythms.”
That’s only 10 seconds less than the 45 that Clinton will have for his remarks that in an early version says World Cup soccer is testimony that nations can stand together in peace.
A highlight of the program will be a parade of the 24 participating nations, with dancers in native costumes cavorting on the field. Bob Doepel, senior producer of the opening ceremonies, said the Secret Service nixed the machetes that one of the dance troupes had planned to carry.
Hoping to appeal to the international audience, the show also will feature Hispanic hearthrob singer Jon Secada and dreamboat Chicagoan Richard Marx, who will sing the “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Singer Daryl Hall, who confesses not to be a sports fan, will wind up the show with the World Cup theme song, “Gloryland,” with the help of two groups: Sounds of Blackness and Walt Whitman and the Soul Children of Chicago.
One of the most eye-catching parts of the show will feature enormous, fan-shaped objects representing each of the 24 countries. The fans are 15 feet high and 30 feet wide and are supposed to look like a modern art version of the top half of a flattened soccer ball.
Two dozen strong men and women were recruited at health clubs and aerobics studios to carry the 25-pound objects.
One of them is Chicagoan David Watkins, 19, whose sick brother, Doyle, 17, is worried he might not be able to watch the festivities from his hospital bed.
“We thought we could see something on TV,” said the teens’ mother, Mildred.