The president of NBC Sports, echoing testimony...

The president of NBC Sports, echoing testimony of his colleagues at the two other networks, denied that there was any NFL pressure on him to deny the United States Football League a contract for its switch to the fall.

Arthur Watson, who has headed the network’s sports division since 1979, was the first witness in what is expected to be the last week of testimony in the NFL’s defense of the USFL’s $1.69-billion antitrust suit. He said that when the USFL decided to switch to the fall starting in 1986, he wasn’t interested--largely because of the glut of college football on the air and the network’s other commitments.