Relationships ebb and flow in the sports business, and the one the Bulls have with WMVP-AM 1000 certainly has experienced the extremes.
During the Michael Jordan era, it was great for both parties. When Jordan retired and the team went into the dumps, it still was great for the Bulls, who were guaranteed a hefty rights fee. However, it was terrible for WMVP, because the station had trouble selling ads for games that nobody wanted to hear.
When the contract expired after the 2005-06 season, WMVP, after several years of losses on the books, wasn’t heartbroken to see the Bulls move to WCKG-FM 105.9. It looked to be the end of the relationship.
But the breakup didn’t last long. Changes at WCKG resulted in the Bulls hastily looking for a new radio station before Wednesday night’s season opener.
After talking to the various heavyweights such as WGN-AM 720, WLS-AM 890 and WIND-AM 560, the Bulls went back to their old home, signing a five-year deal with WMVP.
“They’ve been with us for 10 of the last 11 years,” said Jim Pastor, president and general manager of the ESPN station. “The way I look at it is last year they took a brief trip.”
Indeed, the attitude is much more upbeat this time around for the Bulls and the station thanks to how the deal is structured. Instead of a rights-fees arrangement, under which WMVP paid as much as $4 million a year in the last contract, the Bulls have decided to take their deal in house. In essence, they will be buying the time from WMVP and then selling the ads themselves, a format they began last year.
It’s a win-win for both parties, and especially for WMVP, because it can’t lose any money on the deal.
“ESPN clearly feels better about us now than at the end of the 10-year deal,” said Steve Schanwald, the Bulls’ executive vice president of business operations. “They are getting in for no risk at a time when the team is poised for a good on-court run in the next few years.”
WMVP also is a better spot for the Bulls. WCKG isn’t a sports station, and sports listeners certainly weren’t accustomed to turning the dial to 105.9 for the games at night.
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Schanwald said it was positive to have Steve Dahl’s show as a lead-in for the Bulls, but he acknowledged that during the rest of the day, the station was unable to promote the Bulls.
That won’t be the case at WMVP. The Bulls will be on a station that reaches their core audience all day long.
“It’s more than just the play-by-play of the games,” Pastor said. “They’re going to be visible on our station full time. We’ll have other ancillary Bulls programming planned, such as a weekly Bulls show. It’s a good situation for both of us.”
When the Bulls and White Sox both left the station, WMVP was left without any sports programming from the major teams in town. Pastor insists that airing local games isn’t vital to the success of the station.
Just the same, if you’re an all-sports outlet and you have a chance to hook on to a team that could reach the NBA Finals, you jump at the opportunity. The relationship between the Bulls and WMVP definitely is on the upswing again.
“The old deal was the old deal,” Pastor said. “That’s history. I’m pleased with everything we’re getting out of this deal.”
Forecast
The Bulls have some support among TNT’s analysts. Reggie Miller, Doug Collins and David Aldridge selected the Bulls to win the Eastern Conference. Collins thinks Scott Skiles will be the coach of the year.
None of the analysts is predicting a championship for any Eastern Conference team. Six of the eight prognosticators, including Charles Barkley, are going with San Antonio, with the other two selecting the Phoenix Suns.
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