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Events Attractions

VIVE LA FRANCE! WORLD CUP COMES TO A CLOSE WITH STUNNER

          ABC's telecast of Sunday's Brazil-France World Cup
     Final earned a 6.9/17 overnight rating.  The '94 Brazil-
     Italy Final earned a national rating of 9.5/24 (THE DAILY).
          STICKING WITH THE PLAN: In Miami, Anne Moncreiff
     Arrarte reports that despite "weak ratings" for the '98
     World Cup, ABC "plans to continue promoting soccer and
     cover" the 2002 event.  ABC Senior VP/Network Operations &
     Development David Downs said that the net expected a 5 or 6
     rating for the Final.  Downs said that "part of the problem"
     with the lower ratings this year is that companies like
     McDonald's and Coca-Cola "have done little advertising to
     the general market, assuming most Americans aren't
     interested."  Both have directed much of their advertising
     toward U.S. Hispanics, and Hispanic media has seen high
     ratings throughout the World Cup (MIAMI HERALD, 7/13).  
          TV REPORT CARD: In Toronto, Rob Longley gives ABC an
     "F" for its coverage.  Longley writes that ABC, led by Bob
     Ley, "preferred clogging the commentary with stats and
     obvious observations."  Longley gives the BBC an "A" for its
     coverage, noting that it "stayed away from the obvious,
     adding analysis and description only when necessary."  In
     Canada, TSN went with the BBC feed (TORONTO SUN, 7/13). 
     Also in Toronto, Chris Zelkovich said the BBC commentators
     "raised play-calling to a new level."  Also on Zelkovich's
     "Hit" list was ABC's decision to run the games without
     commercials (TORONTO STAR, 7/13).  USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke
     writes that the World Cup "was not important enough,
     apparently, for ABC to provide world-class coverage that
     U.S. fans see on the Super Bowl" and other top events. 
     Martzke: "ABC could have provided better graphics to aid
     viewers who didn't know these players. ... For the 2002 Cup,
     ABC should put in a Super Bowl effort" (USA TODAY, 7/13).
          U.S. AGAINST THE WORLD: The state of soccer in the U.S.
     was examined in the weekend media, and Kirk Johnson wrote in
     Sunday's N.Y. TIMES that soccer "remains as mysterious to
     vast numbers of Americans as it was when all they saw of it
     was grainy photographs of Pele," and in the U.S., "soccer as
     a national passion still remains pint-sized."  Stephen
     Hardy, a professor of sports studies at the Univ. of NH,
     says that the marketing of soccer is "American free
     enterprise at its best, and its worst.  There's been no
     uniform presentation of the sport, and with so many
     different approaches to selling the game, it's like clutter"
     (N.Y. TIMES, 7/12).  In S.F., Glenn Dickey: "Until we see
     youngsters kicking around a soccer ball in unsupervised play
     on the playgrounds and in the streets, forget about the U.S.
     ever being a major factor in the World Cup" (S.F. CHRONICLE,
     7/13).  In Orange County, Mark Emmons said the World Cup was
     a "yawn" in the U.S. and the "question has now become
     whether Americans ever will embrace soccer as a spectator
     sport" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 7/12).  

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On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

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