NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol was the keynote speaker
at yesterday's Women's Sports Foundation Summit '99 in
Arlington, VA, where he said that games involving the U.S.
women's teams at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney will be
televised more than they were during the '96 Atlanta Games.
Ebersol: "Every second, every minute of every U.S. women's
basketball, softball and soccer game will be seen in their
entirety. This is a big change" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/29).
ON A SUCCESSFUL START-UP LEAGUE: In a Q&A after his
remarks, Ebersol was asked about the difficulty of start-up
leagues gaining TV coverage. Ebersol: "I'd be the first to
admit that it's a very daunting task. But I think it's as
daunting today for men as it would be for women." Ebersol
used the example of a possible start-up women's soccer
league and discussed the odds of network TV coverage: "I'd
say right now they'd be largely dependent on two things.
The sponsors who they would bring in to show that the money
would be there for a long-term commitment and, second of
all, enough professionals. I don't think anybody's going to
come in the door with 700 professionals the way the NBA was
able to with the launch of the WNBA. But it can't be one or
two people. I mean, to convince sponsors and network
television today that something's going to be well-launched,
means you've got to come in with a cadre of pros, or
otherwise it will fail at the grassroots level. I think
that's the same for men or women. I don't think there's
been a sports launch in my lifetime that's been as effective
as the WNBA. ... It was the sponsors truly believing it was
worth their commitment so it was worth their time to grow."
ON A TURNER/NBC FOOTBALL LEAGUE: Ebersol: "One of the
hardest things for us, which we're [NBC and Turner] in the
process of overcoming, but we're going to have it nailed
down firm before we ever actually announce this league ...
is to be certain at the grassroots level that in each of the
12 launch cities that we are ultimately going to end up in,
that we can be sure of what is going to be there. In some
cities it's clear, because there are established team owners
in those cities who are very interested ... but in other
ones, it's not quite that clear. I don't want to launch
until we've made them put together an assemblance of real
marketing talent" (THE DAILY).
ON THE NBA: Ebersol, on the effect of the six-month NBA
lockout on NBA TV ratings: "I've said repeatedly that the
NBA would not be affected because people would see the
league as much more competitive. ... On the other hand, I do
think in the conference finals and finals we will have a
diminished rating because each of the last three years,
which were the highest rated finals in history, had people,
casual fans, tuning in thinking it was the last time they
were going to see [Michael Jordan] play because he was
playing under one year contracts." See (#10) (THE DAILY).
