USC TV Ban Seems to Be Penalizing All the Wrong People

USC announced its tape-delayed football television schedule this week. Ten of the 11 games, including the Trojans’ season finale against Oregon Nov. 30 at Tokyo, will be televised on Channel 2 on Sundays after NFL football. The Arizona State game at Tempe, Ariz., Saturday, Sept. 28, will be televised that night at 11:30. Seven of the 10 Sunday afternoon telecasts will have to be edited down to 2 or 2 1/2 hours.

The announcers will be Geoff Witcher and former USC sports information director Jim Perry, who was the radio commentator during his 10 years at the school.

Usually, there isn’t much interest in tape-delayed football games, which are as stale as day-old doughnuts.

But if you’re a USC fan, you have to take your telecasts either stale or not at all. The Trojans are banned from live television this season. No USC-Notre Dame, no USC-UCLA and no USC-Washington on network TV. If you want to see any of these games live, you’ll need a ticket. And the Notre Dame and Washington games are on the road.

In 1982, USC was penalized because an assistant coach helped players sell game tickets for more than face value. The infractions took place between 1970 and ’78.

The NCAA hit USC with two years of probation--1982 and ’83. During these seasons, the Trojans were barred from live TV and bowl games.

But because CBS already had signed contracts to carry the USC-Notre Dame and USC-UCLA games in 1982, the penalty was changed to include three seasons. The Trojans could appear on TV in 1982, but they could not go to a bowl game. In 1983, no TV and no bowl. And in 1984, no TV, but they were eligible for a bowl game.

Then, because of the Supreme Court decision in June of ’84 that stripped the NCAA of its control over football telecasts, there was a one-year moratorium during which schools banned from TV could appear if they so desired.

USC took advantage of the moratorium, and eight games were televised live last season. Now, in 1985, seven years after the last of the infractions took place, USC must serve the remainder of the TV ban.

The problem with TV bans is they penalize too many innocent people--the viewers, the networks, the current players and the opponents--while the perpetrators often get off unscathed.

Four teams are banned from TV this season, and all four are teams covered by CBS. Besides USC, there is Arizona of the Pacific 10, and Illinois and Wisconsin of the Big Ten.

Neal Pilson, CBS executive vice president in charge of sports and radio, said: “Not being able to televise USC-Notre Dame and USC-UCLA hurts us a lot. But there’s not too much we can do about it. If we tried to do something, I think it would be an unfair intrusion. Television is already accused of having too much influence over sports. We just have to take our lumps with this one.”

Jim Spence, ABC senior vice president in charge of sports, said: “I’ve always complained that TV bans unfairly penalize the networks.”

Sean Salisbury, USC quarterback, said: “I don’t agree with it (the TV ban), but I guess we have to live with it. What we have to do to make up for it is get into a bowl on Jan. 1. That way we’ll at least be on national TV once.”

Why does the NCAA use the TV ban as a punishment instead of, say, a heavy fine? David Berst, director of enforcement for the NCAA, said: “A fine alone is not enough. A school such as USC, with its many benefactors, can possibly make up for the lost dollars. A television ban also hurts recruiting.

“In this case, players’ tickets were sold for large amounts of money. Our aim is to create an environment where such infractions will not occur in the future. We realize a television ban does affect the current players, but they are not being banned from the playing field.”

Another form of penalizing a school is to cut the number of scholarships it is allowed, but Berst said USC was not penalized in that manner in this case because the violations did not involve recruiting.

After the USC players heard last February that their games would not be on network television this season, they met privately to discuss what could be done. A letter of protest to Walter Byers, executive director of the NCAA, was drafted and signed by most of them, but never sent.

At the same time, Bill Johnson of Chula Vista, the father of cornerback Matt Johnson, attempted to organize a protest by the parents of the players. “My father, Matt’s grandfather, is a shut-in,” Johnson said. “The only way he can see Matt play is on television. Now, he won’t be able to see him at all. It’s just not fair.”

In both cases, it was decided a protest would be futile.

Salisbury, who redshirted last season after tearing cartilage in his right knee in the second game of the season at Arizona State, said: “It’s pretty tough to fight the system. But I’ll tell you this--it’s a crazy system.

“Most of the players on our team were in the sixth, seventh or eighth grades in 1978. I didn’t get to USC until 1981, and I’m a fifth-year senior. Yet we’re being penalized for things that happened in 1978 and before.

“I really can’t blame those players in the past for selling tickets, either. Do you know how hard it is to make it on the scholarship money we get? I got $410 a month last year, and my rent was $481, which I split with my roommate. That doesn’t leave much for dating or going out with buddies, or anything. My parents aren’t wealthy. They can’t afford to give me much.

“We, as amateur athletes, aren’t allowed to have a job, either. We don’t have time for one during the season, anyway. I think football players should be paid. I don’t know how much, maybe $1,000 for the season. You’d sure see a lot less cheating if football players had enough money to live on.

“College football is a big, money-making business. And the players are getting short-changed. I realize I’m getting a free college education, but I feel I’m earning it.

“This is my last year, and I’ll get by. But I think the system is unfair and it should be changed for the guys coming up.”

Notes USC’s opener at Illinois Sept. 7 will be televised that night, possibly as early as 8:30, on the Satellite Program Network. The cable network is televising all Illini games this season on a same-day, tape-delay basis. . . . Channel 2 will televise part of the Illinois game Sunday, Sept. 8, from 4 to 6 p.m. . . . UCLA will not have a tape-delayed package this season but could have as many as eight games televised live. ESPN has announced it will carry the Bruin opener Sept. 7 against BYU at Provo, Utah, and CBS will show the Sept. 28 game at Washington. CBS may televise as many as three Bruin games, and WTBS could carry as many as three others. . . . Good news for those who are unable to get cable: Channel 13 has announced it will carry WTBS’ college football telecasts this season.

Thursday night’s Ram game was not televised, but Channel 56 is still trying to work out a deal to televise the team’s two remaining exhibition games. . . . The NFL will experiment with instant replays to help the officials during two national telecasts this weekend--Dallas at San Diego Saturday at 6 p.m. on CBS and Washington vs. the Raiders at the Coliseum Sunday on NBC, but both games will be blacked out in Los Angeles. The Chargers, who almost always sell out, fell about 6,000 tickets short this time. The game is blacked out in both San Diego and Los Angeles because cable subscribers in San Diego can pick up L.A. stations. Sunday’s Redskin-Raider game, however, is not blacked out in San Diego. . . . Fred Roggin, who did the play-by-play on Channel 4’s taped coverage of last Saturday night’s Raider-San Francisco game, will work this Sunday’s Raider game, but only for practice. Roggin, who has been hired by NBC, and his broadcast partner, former guard Bob Kuechenberg of the Miami Dolphins, will use the game for a dry run. Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen will be the announcers on the air.