Punt, pass and volley

Abstract

Aftershocks from the NFL's new TV deal are still rippling through the business. The US Tennis Association has some key scheduling conflicts to resolve on its US Open tournament now that Open rights-holder CBS has returned to the NFL broadcast roster.

Headnote

U.S. Open tennis mulls schedule changes from CBS' return to NFL

Aftershocks from the NFLs new TV deal are still rippling through the business. The U.S. Tennis Association has some key scheduling conflicts to resolve on its U.S. Open tournament now that Open rights-holder CBS has returned to the NFL broadcast roster.

This year's Open will begin its two-week run on Aug. 31. For CBS, which carries weekend daytime coverage of the tourney, dates now in question are Sept. 6 (the first Sunday of the '98 NFL season) and Sept. 13. While CBS no doubt will broadcast the Open's men's singles final on the afternoon of the second Sunday (as the network has done for years, both before and after it lost the NFL rights in '94), the USTA will have to make a few schedule adjustments to accommodate CBS' renewed commitment to football.

The tennis association, CBS and USA Network (which has cable rights to the Open) are in discussions to come up with a new TV schedule, which should be announced "in a couple of weeks," a USTA representative said. The rep, as well as the networks, declined further comment.

One possible outcome is a return to the setup in place when CBS last had the NFL. The network would give up its rights to the first Sunday of the tournament (Sept. 6) to USA. CBS would then bring back its "Super Saturday" format-meaning that the women's singles championship would shift from Sunday (Sept. 13) to Saturday (Sept. 12), accompanying the two men's singles semifinals. On Sept. 13, following NFL telecasts, CBS would begin its broadcast of the men's final at about 4 p.m. ET

One group that may oppose a Sunday-to-Saturday switch of the women's final is the Corel WTA Tour. The Tour campaigned for years to get its final moved to Sunday, where it has run for the past two Opens alongside the men's.

With the start of the baseball season just two months away local TV ad sales are flourishing for the two new expansion teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The clubs themselves are selling all commercial time on local over-theair telecasts of their games.

The Diamondbacks already have sold 95 percent of the inventory for the 75 regular-season games set to air this year on Phoenix's KTVK-TV, said Blake Edwards, the team's vp of sales. Meanwhile, the Devil Rays are offering a 65-game regular-season package (51 telecasts on Tampa's WWWB-TV and 14 telecasts on St. Petersburg's WTSP-TV), and the inventory is " almost sold out," said Dave Auker, vp of sales and marketing.

The rookie teams are offering advertisers one-stop shopping-the chance to buy integrated packages that include TV and radio time, promotional rights, in-stadium signage and category exclusivity. Among the Diamondbacks' major marketing partners are Miller Brewing, Bank One, McDonald's, America West Airlines, Pepsi, US West, Little Caesar's, Cox Communications, Nissan/Infiniti, Tosco Marketing (operator of Circle K convenience stores and 76 brand gas stations) and the Arizona Republic. All of the deals are long-term, many running from five to 10 years. Miller and Pepsi are said to have 15-year agreements.

Both teams also have long-term TV deals in place. Under a 10-year revenue-sharing arrangement with independent KTVK, the Diamondbacks have agreed to sell all in-game ad time. The team and the station are selling the pregame and postgame inventory, as well as the time for a season-long baseball news/feature show scheduled to air on Sundays.

The Devil Rays have cut five-year deals with WB affiliate WWWB and with WTSP, a CBS affil; both contracts are time buys (although the Rays have an option to use WW WB to sell some inventory). The Rays have a fiveyear cable agreement with SportsChannel Florida (64 games this season), and the Diamondbacks have a multiyear cable deal with Fox Sports Arizona (60 games this season).