USTA Talking To Nets About Picking Up Rain-Delayed Open Coverage
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Inclement Weather Could Force USA Network,
ESPN To Pick Up U.S. Open Coverage |
The USTA has begun urgent talks with USA Network and ESPN about picking up coverage of some if not all of the men's semifinals of the U.S. Open if Saturday becomes a washout as the weather forecast now predicts, sources said. CBS is scheduled to broadcast the men's semifinals Saturday, but would have a conflict on Sunday from 12:00-4:00pm ET, when it is broadcasting the NFL and its pregame show. CBS is scheduled to broadcast the men's final at 4:30pm Sunday, but if Saturday night is also rained out when the women's championship is slated to be contested, then it would be moved into that slot, according to the USTA's contingency plans. If the men's semifinals are played on Sunday, the men's final would occur Monday afternoon and presumably be broadcast by CBS. It has been over 20 years since a men's final has been pushed into Monday by rain. Right now the plan is if Saturday is washed out, then the men's semifinals would begin at 10:00am on Sunday. The men's final would begin at 3:00pm Monday, though that time is not ironclad, a source said. USA is in its last year broadcasting the Open, with ESPN2 slated to take over next year's cable coverage. An ESPN spokesperson said that the net is "working with all our partners in trying to anticipate the impact of Hurricane Hanna and serve our fans. The USTA is one of those partners." USA could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, the USTA announced Thursday afternoon that ticketholders to the sessions of Saturday would in the event of a washout be offered the same ticket for the rescheduled matches (Daniel Kaplan, SportsBusiness Journal).
CONTINGENCIES IN PLACE: SI.com's Jon Wertheim noted the USTA has "several contingency plans in place depending on the time and duration of the inclement weather," and those would be implemented "as the forecast develops throughout the day on Friday" (SI.com, 9/4). USTA Chief Exec of Professional Tennis Arlen Kantarian said, "We'd like to get it as late as possible Monday, could be 5 p.m., could be 3 p.m. It's a balance between crowd control and television. ... We're talking to at least four TV networks, two different meteorologists, some agents and players, international TV rights holders" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/5).
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