NBC will broadcast Game One of the World Series
Saturday night from Atlanta's Turner Field. Event coverage
begins at 7:30pm ET, with the first pitch at 8:05pm ET. NBC
precedes Game One with two Saturday specials: a 3:00pm ET
show on MLB's top 25 moments of the century, as selected by
The Sporting News (#7), and a 4:00pm ET show on MasterCard's
All-Century Team (THE DAILY). A video produced by USA Home
Entertainment and MLB on the All-Century team will be
available starting October 26 (USA TODAY, 10/22).
SERIES SPONSOR ROUND-UP: The SportsBusiness Journal's
Langdon Brockinton reports in THE DAILY that E-Trade will
sponsor NBC's World Series pregame show hosted by Hannah
Storm. Additionally, Merrill Lynch will sponsor the "play
of the game" feature and Budweiser will sponsor each game's
lineup cards. Sources tell Brockinton that American General
will sponsor the postgame show for the game which clinches
the World Series championship (THE DAILY).
STRONG RATINGS POTENTIAL FOR SERIES: Pilson
Communications President Neal Pilson: "The Yankees and
Atlanta should generate good ratings in the World Series,
especially if the teams split the first two games and have a
close series" (CBS MARKETWATCH, 10/22). In N.Y., Richard
Sandomir notes the "huge ratings potential" of the Yankees-
Braves series and writes that with the strong postseason,
"no one can argue that baseball's TV performance is
lagging." NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol: "As the TV world
has become even more fragmented than it was just two years
ago, the value of big-time events like the World Series has
become greater. The best network television is always a mix
of successful series and big events, of which the World
Series is one of the biggest" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/22).
HUSH, HUSH: In Toronto, Rob Longley: "After watching
NBC and Fox offer distinctly different styles of telecasts
through the championships series, it is clear that NBC is
considerably easier on the senses" (TORONTO SUN, 10/22).
AFTERNOON DELIGHT: NBC's Bob Costas yesterday endorsed
the return of afternoon World Series games: "I think you
should have the opening game on Saturday as a day game and
the fourth game -- the middle game in the other city -- as
an afternoon game. What baseball would lose in revenues
and ratings, in the long run, it would make up in the feel
you would get. ... If two of the seven games were played in
the day, it wouldn't be too much to ask" (NEWSDAY, 10/22).
DO THE SAME FOR STEINBRENNER, PLEASE! NBC Sports
Producer David Neal said the network would do a minimum
number of Ted Turner-Jane Fonda close-ups. Neal: "It is our
philosophy not to do a lot of crowd shots. Dick Ebersol
always says people tune in to watch the games, not people
watching the games" (L.A. TIMES, 10/22).
CANADIAN RATINGS: In Toronto, William Houston reports
that TSN "scored its highest postseason baseball rating"
last Sunday with its coverage of the NLCS Braves-Mets Game
Five. TSN averaged 619,000 viewers and peaked at 1.25
million viewers. TSN has been averaging about 400,000
viewers a game for the postseason and expects 700,000 to
800,000 viewers for the World Series (GLOBE & MAIL, 10/22).
TYSON'S TIMETABLE: In N.Y., Timothy Smith reports that
Showtime is looking to avoid going head-to-head against Game
One in broadcasting the Mike Tyson-Orlin Norris fight on
Saturday. Showtime Senior VP/Event Programming Jay Larkin
said the network hopes to start the fight after the game,
sometime between 11:30 and 11:45pm ET. Smith writes that
the fight will start "no later" than midnight, regardless of
whether the game is over (N.Y. TIMES, 10/22). Larkin: "Extra
innings is my worst nightmare. The way the games have been
going, it could end on Tuesday" (DETROIT NEWS, 10/22).