Media Notes
ABC's AFL season-opening coverage of Dallas Desperados-Georgia Force on Saturday earned a 0.8 overnight Nielsen rating, down 33.3% from a 1.2 overnight for regional coverage last year, which aired on a Sunday afternoon (THE DAILY). On Long Island, Neil Best reported ESPN’s ratings for the AFL last year were “way down from what they were on NBC.” AFL Philadelphia Soul co-Owner Jon Bon Jovi said of ESPN: “I don’t think their passion has been dissuaded at all. If the ratings are a little south of what we had hoped for, I think anybody with at least our experience and more was wise enough to know this was going to be a growth period for the league” (NEWSDAY, 3/2).
SECOND TIME AROUND: In Boston, Gordon Edes reports the number of Japanese media members covering Red Sox Ps Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima during Spring Training “is down this spring” to about 30-35. Red Sox VP/Media Relations John Blake estimated there were 75-80 Japanese media members last year (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/3).
HOT PEPPER: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes NBC golf analyst Dottie Pepper is “strong -- well-informed, direct, concise, not shy to speak non-pandering, been-there opinion. More, please” (N.Y. POST, 3/3). In West Palm Beach, Charles Elmore wrote under the headline, “Dottie Pepper’s Fire Always Good For Golf” (PALM BEACH POST, 3/2).
TRAGIC END: May 3rd Films co-Producer Kali McIver said that a documentary titled “Len Bias” about the Univ. of Maryland basketball player who died of a drug overdose in '86 is “expected to be completed by month’s end.” McIver added that the film is “expected to debut either on network television or in theaters in early fall.” A trailer can be viewed at www.len-bias.com (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/3).
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