TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET edition of FSN's
"Primetime" (Fox Sports Net South) led with Blue Jays-
Indians, followed by Devil Rays-Yankees. CNN/SI's 11:00pm
ET "Sports Tonight" led with Blue Jays-Indians, followed by
Orioles-Red Sox. ESPN's 11:00pm ET "SportsCenter" led with
Braves-Marlins and followed with Mets-Expos (THE DAILY).
TECH SNAFU: ESPN's 8:00pm ET MLS Mutiny-Wizards
telecast last night was delayed until 8:30pm ET due to
technical difficulties at Arrowhead Stadium. The net went
with ESPNews coverage during the delay (THE DAILY).
NET REMATCH? USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke writes that
upcoming TV rights negotiations "might start TV dominoes
that result in a swap of properties, with NBC gaining the
Triple Crown and ABC landing Wimbledon." ABC has "given up
its right to match a top offer by another network" for
renewal of its Triple Crown rights, and NBC "is the front-
runner" to land the series. Meanwhile, NBC has lost "about"
$10M a year on its Wimbledon contract, and if the net "lands
the Triple Crown, it could back off" from Wimbledon, and
Martzke writes that ABC's "chances of grabbing Wimbledon,"
with ESPN, would be "enhanced" (USA TODAY, 7/23).
GOPHERS ON ESPN: On HBO's next "Real Sports," which
airs Monday at 10:00pm ET, Armen Keteyian interviews former
Univ. of MN academic counseling office manager Jan
Gangelhoff, who claimed that she had written more than 400
papers for the school's men's basketball team. Keteyian:
"Now Jan, are they (the players), as you're typing and
writing, are they next to you?" Gangelhoff: "Sometimes.
Sometimes." Keteyian: "And other times what are they
doing?" Gangelhoff: "Watching ESPN" (HBO).
NAMES & FACES: ABC Sports renewed announcer Jim McKay's
contract for three years. McKay will call the Triple Crown,
British Open and contribute to ABC's "Wide World of Sports"
(USA TODAY, 7/23)....The NHL Panthers named Jiggs McDonald
as the team's radio play-by-play announcer. McDonald had
worked with Fox on its NHL broadcasts (Panthers)....Guest
appearances on the next "Arli$$" (Sunday, 9:30pm ET, HBO)
include Dodgers Manager Davey Johnson and members of WCW.
The episode replays Tuesday at 11:30pm ET, Wednesday at
8:00pm ET and Friday at midnight ET (THE DAILY).
MORE NOTES: A Canadian federal court yesterday awarded
the NFL C$440,000 in damages from three bars in Niagra Falls
and St. Catharines for "picking up the satellite feed for
blacked-out Buffalo Bills games" (TORONTO SUN, 7/23)....In
Toronto, William Houston writes that "for the first time" in
Canada, CBC and TSN will integrate coverage of an int'l
event with their coverage of the XIII Pan Am Games from
Winnipeg, starting tonight. TSN will carry daytime
telecasts, while the CBC will carry primetime events
(Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 7/23). In Toronto, Chris Zelkovich
noted the CBC/TSN coverage, which features about 88 hours of
action, is helping the networks "cope with rising rights and
production costs" (TORONTO STAR, 7/22)....Athlete Direct
will produce and manage the Web site for MLS Revolution
player-coach Walter Zenga. Woolf Associates Assistant Dir
of Athlete Marketing Kim Parsons handled (Woolf Associates).