Starting this year, NBC Sports "will find itself out of the picture for the first time in decades" on both the NFL and MLB, according to Matthew Futterman of the Newark STAR-LEDGER, who wrote that NBC "is betting that a package of basketball, horse racing, golf, stock car racing and the new XFL can add up to more profit — if less prestige — given the exorbitant price tags NBC's competitors are paying for football and baseball." NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer: "For the first time, both sports gave you the rights to lose profound amounts of money. We don't like losing hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars." The Bonham Group Chair Dean Bonham, on NBC: "The broadcast side of the sports business is about content, and when you don't have two of the four major sports, you certainly have a content deficit. I'm sure if they had their druthers, they'd have baseball and football" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 12/29). One of the network's new sports properties will be the XFL, which NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol said "looks like only a minor gamble." Ebersol: "In a worst-case scenario, we probably won't lose more than $60 million in the first two years." But the N.Y. TIMES' Bill Carter wrote that the "most significant unknown" about the XFL is "not how many people will watch, but how many people will wince." Carter: "How much will this damage the network's image, which it has based on quality entertainment shows like 'West Wing' and 'ER,' and move it closer to that of a network like UPN, which has been built around fans of wrestling? The XFL start comes at a time when NBC is selling itself to advertisers as the network that reaches the most educated and affluent viewers" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/1).
BREAKING DOWN THE BODY'S CONTRACT: In Minneapolis, Dane Smith reports MN Gov. Jesse Ventura's contract as an XFL analyst "requires him to work 12 games," which includes ten regular season games as well as two playoff games on NBC through April 21. Excerpts of Ventura's contract also show Ventura "is obligated to 'pre-game rehearsals and other pre-event preparation, post-event wrap-up, event and network promotion not requiring additional travel.'" However, Smith writes that one "key provision not divulged" is the compensation and expenses Ventura will be paid. Among the contract provisions is a "promise that the XFL will not use Ventura's title as governor or refer to his office in promotional material, an avowal that the XFL has no lobbyists in the state and is not subject to regulation by the executive branch of government, and a stipulation that Ventura can be freed of the contract if any agency or court with authority over Ventura's conduct rules that he is in violation of laws" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/3).
