If there was one thing that put ESPN on the cable TV map, it was college basketball. And while CBS stole away a bit of that clout with its current NCAA contract that includes rights to all first-round tournament games, ESPN hasn’t given up.
It still has “Championship Week.”
According to ESPN’s senior vice president for programming, Loren Matthews, “Championship Week,” which has grown by leaps and rebounds since its inception eight years ago, is a natural outgrowth of the cable network’s work on the NCAA tournament.
“We knew our success with the early rounds of the NCAA tournament meant we wouldn’t have it,” says Matthews. “So we decided to put our money and effort into `Championship Week.’ That’s become our season-ending signature.”
Starting with two contests Saturday, ESPN will televise 32 conference tournament contests, including 25 championship contests. The big day is March 13, with five title contests and the Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals. In all, the cable network will have championship games from 24 of the 27 conference tournaments with NCAA automatic bids, although at least one will be joined in progress and at least two are tape-delayed.
But not all the coaches are happy with their time slots. The Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament title game is slated for 5:30 p.m. March 14-the same time as the NCAA announces its pairings. That could leave a team like regular-season champ Jackson State out in the cold if it doesn’t win the tourney. But SWAC officials were hesitant to change for fear of losing its $20,000 TV rights fee from ESPN.
“This is very tough to put together,” says Matthews. “For nine days, we basically have wall-to-wall basketball. That means some (leagues) have to shift dates and times because we have other commitments. It’s never easy.”
But as “Championship Week” has grown in popularity, ESPN’s deal-making has become easier. Network executives usually start planning about a year ahead and try to nail down some commitments during the NCAA Final Four.
“It varies from conference to conference,” says Matthews. “Obviously, for some conferences, this is the best exposure they’re going to get all year. They’ll move heaven and earth for you. The major conferences, however, are limited in what they’re going to do.”
Atlantic Coast Conference officials, for instance, basically tell ESPN when their tournament games are going to be. “There’s different parameters to each deal,” says Matthews. “It’s a juggling act, but one we’ve been doing over a number of years. It’s not as big a puzzle as it used to be.”
– As an added twist to “Championship Week” this year, Dick Vitale will be back in the studio to lend a hand. Vitale, who got his start at ESPN 14 years ago as a studio analyst, is more than happy to return.
“Even though I love being with people at the arena, it helps me professionally,” says Vitale of working in the studio. “It gives me an opportunity to learn another side of television.”
Vitale, too, recognizes that “without the NCAA tournament, `Championship Week’ has become the most prominent week for us. It’s a week where production people put in a lot of time and effort. There’s still a chance to get excited about teams competing for a championship and the right to go to the NCAA tournament. Any time you have a chance to get into the `big dance’ or to win a trophy, people get excited. We try to promote that excitement as much as possible.”
– With the departure of Quinn Buckner to coach the Mavericks after the season, NBC Sports now has lost four analysts to the sidelines in the last three years. Bill Walsh, Pat Riley and Bill Parcells preceded Buckner out of the studio. Executive producer Terry O’Neil has said, basically, that’s the price you pay for fame. “We know we’re taking a risk when we hire former coaches or potential coaches,” said O’Neil, who was on vacation when the Mavs made their long-expected announcement Thursday. “Part of the attraction, however, is getting someone who is in the current coaching mainstream.”
– Dan Dierdorf makes his debut as one of the rotating hosts of “ABC’s Wide World of Sports” at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on WLS-Ch. 7. Dierdorf and boxing analyst Alex Wallau will interview heavyweight champ Riddick Bowe about his bout with Evander Holyfield. . . . Katarina Witt, something of a washout in her debut last year as a studio analyst on CBS’ Winter Olympics telecasts, tries again when she joins NBC for its three-day coverage of the World Figure Skating Championships March 12-14. . . . ABC Sports has signed a multiyear agreement to televise college football’s Kickoff Classic.
– Longtime WMAQ-Ch. 5 sports producer Bill Gutman will be free-lancing on weekends for the NBC affiliate after completing a new deal with the station. “I want to try some other things,” Gutman said. . . . NBA players David Robinson, Ken Norman and Stephen Howard are the first guests of co-hosts Tom Joyce and Craig Larson on “Beating the Streets” at 8 a.m. on WCRX-FM Radio. Joyce and Larson also are hosts of “Speaking of Sports” at WCRX at 7 p.m. Mondays. . . . New Bears coach Dave Wannstedt appears on WGN Radio’s “Sports Central” at 5 p.m. Saturday.
