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REPORTS HAVE DISNEY CLOSE TO MERGING ABC SPORTS/ESPN SALES

          Both the SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Langdon Brockinton
     and AD AGE's Friedman & Ross report that Walt Disney is
     close to combining its ABC Sports and ESPN ad sales units. 
     Friedman & Ross report that the "short list of names of
     candidates believed in the running" to head the effort
     include CBS TV Network Sales President Joe Abruzzese,
     McCann-Erickson Exec VP/Broadcast & Programming Bill Cella,
     ABC Exec VP/NFL Sales & General Sales Manager Larry Fried,
     ESPN Senior VP/Ad Sales Jeffrey Mahl and Raycom Sports
     President & CEO Ray Warren (AD AGE, 6/21 issue).  The
     SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Langdon Brockinton writes, "One
     rumor has it that the ABC sports sales unit may relocate to
     ESPN's sales headquarters" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/21).
          NFL AD SALES ABOUT 20% SOLD: Friedman & Ross also
     report that ABC is "looking for 16% price gains" for ad
     spots during "MNF," despite lower ratings during the '98-99
     NFL season.  In addition, about 20% of "national TV NFL
     inventory already has been sold," as ESPN was pricing a 30-
     second spot for its Sunday night games between $100,000-
     110,000, while CBS "was asking" $120,000-150,000, and Fox
     "was grabbing" $150,000-170,000 (AD AGE, 6/21 issue).  


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