TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET edition of "Fox
Sports News Primetime" (Fox Sports Net South) led with the
Rangers-Mariners, which was the last MLB game at the
Kingdome, followed by the Yankees-Orioles. CNN/SI's "Sports
Tonight" led with the Rangers-Mariners followed by the
Indians-Royals. ESPN's "SportsCenter," which aired at about
11:50pm ET due to the Dodgers-Giants, led with the Braves-
Mets followed by the Reds-Astros (THE DAILY).
FULL COURT PRESS: In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote on HBO's
decision not to renew its TV rights contract for Wimbledon
and said, "Fears about increased rights fees didn't factor
into [Time Warner Sports President Seth] Abraham's
decision." Abraham: "I told [the All-England Club] that for
some time now I've been looking for ways to try and refresh
our schedule" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/27). The N.Y. TIMES'
Richard Sandomir noted that Wimbledon ratings "are
unspectacular, but not as crucial as they would be to a
commercial network because HBO is not advertiser-supported."
The tournament had been averaging a 1.7-1.8 for its first
week on HBO and a 2.0-2.3 for the second week (N.Y. TIMES,
6/26). In Miami, Edwin Pope, on NBC tennis analyst Bud
Collins: "[He] arguably rates as tennis' most entertaining -
- and surely its most cooperative -- constant going on five
decades now. People from all over the world flock to his
desk with every query imaginable" (MIAMI HERALD, 6/26).
GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNING: In Indianapolis, Bill Koenig
wrote that "after a year's delay, NASCAR and CBS are
preparing for stock-car racing's primetime debut" with CBS'
July 3 broadcast of the Pespi 400. Last year's race was
postponed due to FL wildfires and later aired on TNN. This
year CBS "is going to make" the broadcast "its most heavily
promoted show" of the week. Koenig noted that the telecast
of the race will be an "important step toward meeting long-
range goals" for NASCAR. NASCAR VP/Marketing George Pyne:
"We're all about growing our franchise" (STAR-NEWS, 6/25).
MORE NOTES: A Providence JOURNAL editorial, on MLB
offering All-Star voting on its Web site: "Let's face it,
there is not the slightest likelihood that Major League
officials can police such a system, which thus becomes an
open invitation to stuff the ballot-boxes" (Providence
JOURNAL, 6/27)....FSN's Keith Olbermann appeared on "The
Late, Late, Show" with Craig Kilborn Friday. Olbermann, on
joining Fox Sports: "They haven't been promoting me enough.
That's the big problem. I keep telling 'em, 'If you want
this to work, get my face out on more walls.'" Olbermann,
on Fox vs. ESPN: "It's very much like the beginning of a
very long, bloody fight, which we will attempt to fix by
bribing the referee -- before we get tired of getting
punched" ("Late, Late Show," CBS, 6/25).
