MEMORIAL DAY WAR: ESPN TO AIR U.S. 500 VS. ABC'S INDY 500

     Although an official announcement is not set until Thursday,
CART officials confirmed that the U.S. 500 will be televised live
on ESPN.  The May 26 broadcast from the Michigan International
Speedway will go "at least partly head-to-head" with ABC's
coverage of the Indy 500.  Thursday's announcement "is expected
to confirm the" U.S. 500 will start after Indy's 12:00pm EDT
start, "possibly as late" as 2:00pm.  Adam Saal, Dir of
Communications for CART: "It's the next logical step in what's
been a good relationship between ESPN and IndyCar over the last
several years. ... A lot of our sponsors are happy its going to
be on ESPN" (Mike Harris, AP/INDIANAPOLIS STAR/NEWS, 1/14).  ESPN
and ABC are both owned by Cap Cities/ABC.