Channel 13 Is Going All-Out for L.A. Marathon

Televising a marathon isn’t exactly an easy task, considering that the event is spread out over a course measuring more than 26 miles.

For its live coverage of the New York City Marathon last October, ABC used 30 cameras, 5 helicopters, a vehicle to cover the men’s leader and another to cover the women’s leader, 2 motorcycles to cover other runners, and a crew of 120 employees plus 55 volunteers.

It’s one thing for ABC to undertake such a project, but it’s quite another for an independent station such as KCOP, Channel 13.

But Channel 13, which is televising the Los Angeles Marathon Sunday, is giving the inaugural race network-like treatment. The station will use 25 cameras, 2 helicopters, 2 28-foot cranes, a flatbed truck, a motorcycle, the Goodyear blimp Columbia and a crew of 100 employees plus 100 volunteers, with 60 staffing the KCOP water station at Hollywood Boulevard and Wilcox, the halfway point.

ABC reportedly had a production budget of $750,000 for last year’s New York City Marathon. Channel 13 is operating with a budget of about $200,000.

“It’s probably the biggest project ever by an independent television station,” said Sue Raymer, Channel 13’s media supervisor.

Add marathon: All of Channel 13’s news team will be involved in the coverage. Sportscaster Mike Chamberlain will be the host, and anchorman Tim Malloy will be at the start and finish. Anchorwoman Wendy Rutledge has the toughest assignment, though. She’s running in the race.

The announcing team also includes veteran marathon commentator Larry Rawson, Dr. Ronald Lawrence, writer Kathy Griffith and statistician Ken Young.

Channel 13’s live coverage will begin at 8:30 a.m. with a prerace show. The race, expected to attract 7,500 runners, is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. at the Coliseum.

State of the art: The cover story in the Feb. 24 issue of Sports Illustrated dealt with the financial problems of the sports departments of the three major networks. “Why TV Sports Are in Big Trouble,” said the headline on the cover.

Essentially, the story said that the networks can no longer afford to pay huge rights fees to sports organizations because sponsors are no longer willing to pick up the tab.

Sports rights fees were discussed at a seminar this week at the Marriott Inn Marina del Rey. The seminar, put together by Dantia Quirk of the QV Publishing Co. of Hartsdale, N.Y., was called “Television Sports Rights: How Real is the Realism.”

One of the panelists, Jay Rosenstein, vice president, CBS Broadcast Group, held up the Sports Illustrated cover and said: “This is a message that Neal Pilson (president, CBS Broadcast Group) has been delivering for two years. Now, it is sinking in.”

But Phil Hochberg, a Washington attorney who specializes in sports TV contracts, indicated he didn’t believe the premise of the article. “I’m confused,” he said. “If the networks are in such financial straits, then why did CBS recently agree to pay the NBA nearly double what it had been paying.”

Last Dec. 20, CBS announced a new four-year agreement with the National Basketball Assn. that would pay a total of $173 million, beginning next season. The previous four-year deal paid $88 million.

“I think the article may have been the result of the networks’ public relations departments,” Hochberg said.

Rosenstein disagreed, pointing out that the South Koreans got a rights fee of only $300 million from NBC for the 1988 Summer Olympics, that ABC had dropped the Gator Bowl and that CBS had dropped the Peach Bowl.

In a recent interview, Dennis Swanson, the new president of ABC Sports, said 82 cents of every dollar his department spends goes to rights fees, leaving only 18 cents per dollar for production. He said he is looking for a better balance.

It makes sense that the networks might be in trouble financially, with cable providing a saturation of sports and with VCRs further fragmenting the marketplace.

“The marketplace is what determines what rights fees will be,” Rosenstein said.

Add rights fees: When it comes time to negotiate a new NFL television contract after the 1986 season, the networks figure to offer considerably less than the league is seeking. Thus, the league could turn to pay-per-view.

A logical setup would be for the networks to continue to televise games nationally while the individual teams sell home games in their markets on a pay-per-view basis.

But Rosenstein thinks pay-per-view in the NFL is still a way off. “I think the guaranteed dollar over an extended period of time will be enough to convince the NFL to stay with the same setup,” he said.

Add pay-per-view: Since its inception in 1980, there have been 19 pay-per-view shows on television, 15 involving sports events. The 1982 fight between Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney grossed $10 million, which is still the record for a pay-per-view event. But that is expected to be broken Monday night with the card featuring Marvelous Marvin Hagler against John Paul Mugabi and Thomas Hearns against James Shuler.

The Southern California record is $1.2 million for last year’s Hagler-Hearns fight, but projections indicate that amount should be doubled Monday.

Rick Kulis of Choice Channel, which is distributing the fights to 40 cable systems in Southern California, including Cox Cable in San Diego, is figuring on a 15% penetration in this area’s 750,000 addressable cable households.

An addressable household is one technically equipped to take a pay-per-view event. Southern California, by far, has more addressable households than any other area.

SelecTV and a number of bar-restaurants, including Legends in Long Beach and 12 Red Onions, are licensed to show the fights.

The first fight, Richie Sandoval vs. Gaby Ganizales, is scheduled to begin at 6:05 p.m., with Hearns-Shuler set for 7:05 and Hagler-Mugabi at 8:05.

Notes The winner of the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s 10th John R. Wooden Award will be announced on NBC during halftime of Sunday’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship game. The leading candidates are Johnny Dawkins of Duke, Walter Berry of St. John’s, Lenny Bias of Maryland and Kenny Walker of Kentucky. Wooden, Dick Enberg and the athletic club’s Duke Llewellyn will make the announcement. . . . The NCAA tournament pairings will be announced Sunday at 3 p.m. on CBS. At 9 a.m. Sunday, CBS will offer a tournament preview show. The pairings for the women’s tournament will be announced during the preview show, which also will include a feature on USC’s Cheryl Miller. . . . Gary Bender and Mimi Griffin will be the announcers on CBS’s coverage of the women’s championship game March 30. . . . Bob Seizer’s “Sports Look,” with host Roy Firestone, taped its 1,000th show this week. The hour-long program, with Joe Namath as a studio guest and including highlights of past shows, will be shown on ESPN Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and repeated Monday at 3 and 11 p.m. . . . ESPN has signed Jay Johnstone and Joe Morgan as college baseball commentators.

For the record: The Times last Monday erroneously listed the UCLA-Arizona game as a Channel 2 TV game. Channel 2 at one time was scheduled to carry the game, and information provided by UCLA indicated that it was still going to do so. . . . Channel 2 will carry both UCLA’s game against Oregon and USC’s game against Oregon State Saturday. Radio station KRTH (930), formerly KHJ, will broadcast the UCLA game because KMPC is carrying an Angel exhibition game against San Diego. . . . Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, whose celebrity status has reached such heights that he was the answer to a puzzle on “Wheel of Fortune” this week, will be the subject of a half-hour special on Channel 11 Saturday night at 8:30. . . . Awards department: The late Bob Prince, longtime Pittsburgh Pirates announcer, was named as the recipient of the 1986 Ford A. Frick Award, and Sam Balter, longtime Los Angeles sportscaster, won the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Assn.’s Diamond Circle Award.

Clipper radio announcer Ralph Lawler generally does fine work, but he has one irritating habit. He continually uses plural verbs when singular ones are called for. For instance: “Edwards bring ball up court, Johnson go to the top of the key.” Or: “Hinson get ball to Bagley, Bagley lose it.” It’s a gimmick that doesn’t work. . . . The time of Sunday’s Clipper game against Denver at the Sports Arena has been switched from 2 to 6 p.m. . . . A new cable network devoted solely to water sports is scheduled to go on the air in September. Stu Evey, former ESPN chairman, has been named chairman of the board of what will be called the Water Sports Network. . . . How big is high school hockey in Minnesota? So big that the TV rights for the state tournament were sold for a whopping $1.5 million over three years. . . . Bad Idea Dept.: The San Francisco Giants are offering a pay-per-view package this season. If the Dodgers had a tough go with Dodgervision last season, imagine the problems the Giants face. The price of a 45-game package is $150. Individual games are $5.95.