TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET editions of ESPN's
"SportsCenter" and CNN/SI's "Sports Tonight" both led with
Astros-Mets and followed with Reds-Braves. FSN's
"Primetime" (Fox Sports Net South) led with Reds-Braves and
followed with Astros-Mets. The first non-MLB story on
"SportsCenter," at 7:51 into the broadcast, was Broncos-
Packers. The first non-MLB story on "Sports Tonight," at
5:40, was the Bengals signing rookie QB Akili Smith.
"Primetime" reported on the T'Wolves re-signing G Terrell
Brandon at 6:50 into the broadcast (THE DAILY).
SCORE LOSERS? USA TODAY's Potter & Martzke note that
ratings for CBS' telecast of last weekend's Sprint Int'l
golf tournament "tumbled 18%" in its two-day average,
pulling a 3.2 overnight rating compared to last year's 3.9.
Young & Rubicam's Bob Igiel, who called the event's scoring
system "confusing," said the telecast's announcers "seemed
confused with the scoring system as well." But BBDO's Steve
Grubbs said of the drop in ratings, "Having marquee names on
the leaderboard is what drives the ratings. The scoring
system's a plus" (USA TODAY, 8/24).
BY THE NUMBERS: A BLOOMBERG report notes ABC's coverage
of ArenaBowl XIII pulled a 1.6 overnight rating, which was
an 11% drop from last year's 1.8 overnight, and adds that
the ratings drop comes as the league "prepares to negotiate"
a new TV contract. The AFL's agreement with Disney's
ABC/ESPN divisions expired August 22 and Disney will have 30
days to "negotiate exclusively" before the AFL can shop
elsewhere (BLOOMBERG, 8/24)....In Boston, Howard Manly
reports that Sunday's Cowboys-Patriots game on ABC pulled an
11.7/22 local rating. The game "smoked" WLVI-WB's broadcast
of the Rangers-Red Sox, which pulled a 4.8/9 (GLOBE, 8/24).
MORE NOTES: MSNBC will simulcast Mike Francesa's WFAN-
AM NFL pregame radio show on Sundays from 9:00-10:00am ET.
"The NFL Now" will debut on September 12 (MSNBC)....Former
Lightning Coach/GM Jacques Demers has joined the Montreal
sports media as a radio commentator and part-time color
analyst on Canadiens games (CALGARY SUN, 8/24)....In DC, Liz
Clarke reports that Redskins coach Norv Turner still "does
not have" a coach's show, as the Redskins changed local
carriers this season from WJLA-ABC to WRC-NBC (See THE DAILY
6/30). Turner previously was "among the more highly
compensated coaches under his TV deal" with WJLA and it was
reportedly worth "at least six figure annually" (WASHINGTON
POST, 8/24)....Celtics announcer Bob Cousy, on ongoing
contract discussions with FSNE: "I let my hair down today to
both groups (the Celtics and FSNE) and the C's have stepped
up well. ... The wheels are turning. But there's no
resolution yet" (BOSTON HERALD, 8/24).
