TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET edition of FSN's
"Primetime" (Fox Sports South), CNN/SI's 11:00pm ET "Sports
Tonight" and ESPN's 11:30pm ET "SportsCenter" all led with
Brewers-Braves, followed by Pirates-Mets (THE DAILY).
NCAA COURTING NEW SUITORS? BRANDWEEK's Terry Lefton
reports that CBS' seven-year, $1.7B contract to televise the
NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments "doesn't
expire until 2002," but "maneuvering is already underway,"
as NCAA President Cedric Dempsey "has held informal talks"
with Fox/Fox Sports Net and ABC/ESPN. Network and NCAA
sources say they "expect a new deal by next spring at the
latest," with the winning network "expected to pay at least"
50% more than CBS' current deal. The NCAA is seeking a deal
for "as long as 10 years." Despite the talks, Lefton
writes, "There is no sign that CBS is in danger of losing
one of its premiere sports properties" (BRANDWEEK, 7/26).
FOX STATES ITS CASE TO HIGH SCHOOLS: Fox Sports Net
(FSN) officials "will state their case" for a national high
school football championship game at the annual TX High
School Coaches Association coaching school taking place
through Wednesday in Ft. Worth. University Interscholastic
League rules "ban Texas schools from participating in
postseason competition other than regular state playoff
games" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 7/26). FSN Exec Producer
Arthur Smith: "Our intentions are good. They are not to
create rifts or to create controversy. ... We are trying to
shed light on high school sports" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/26).
MORE NOTES: In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley reports that N.Y.
Times Sports Editor Neil Amdur said at the annual meeting of
the Association for Women in Sports Media that correspondent
Samantha Stevenson, mother of WTA Tour player Alexandra
Stevenson, "would no longer be writing women's tennis
stories" for the paper. Amdur: "The question whether her
situation makes it appropriate for her to write, continue
writing on a contract basis in the future will have to be
weighed when the contract is up at the end of this year"
(MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/27)....Among Cleveland's
WKYC-NBC's plans for its Browns-specific TV programming is a
children's show, "Brown Blitz," airing on Saturday mornings.
Browns President Carmen Policy said that the show is "a
special one that the league will watch and -- it hopes --
have other cities copy" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 7/27).
