Channel 7, Trying to Lure Hill, Makes a Big-Bucks Offer

Things appear to be going well for sportscaster Jim Hill.

CBS this week announced the hiring of Ken Stabler as an NFL commentator, saying that he would be paired with Hill and that they would work eight telecasts.

Until then, it had been unclear how many NFL assignments Hill would get.

Also, CBS-owned Channel 2, trying to re-sign its No. 1 sports anchor, has offered Hill a salary increase and other benefits. A CBS source said that the increase would be from $500,000 a year to nearly $600,000.

The combined network-Channel 2 package is an attractive deal, worth maybe as much as $700,000 a year, but ABC-owned Channel 7 may be offering a better one. The CBS source said that John Severino, Channel 7’s general manager, is now trying to lure Hill away from Channel 2 with an $800,000-a-year salary.

Another source said neither offer is that high. However, Channel 7 Thursday re-signed newsman Paul Moyer for a reported $1 million a year.

The problem with the ABC offer to Hill is that it does not include NFL play-by-play, which is important to Hill.

Hill’s agent, Ed Hookstratten, who would not comment on any aspect of the contract offers, said: “Jim is out of town on vacation this week. He’ll probably make a decision early next week.”

Sugar Ray Leonard, despite objections from Donald Curry’s camp, will join Barry Tompkins and Larry Merchant at ringside to work HBO’s coverage of Saturday night’s fight between Curry and Mike McCallum at Las Vegas.

Curry and his manager, Akbar Muhammad, have a $1 million suit pending against Leonard. In the suit, they contend that when they sought advice from Leonard concerning Curry’s career, they were steered away from Marvelous Marvin Hagler so that Leonard could fight Hagler first.

Muhammad said that, because of the suit, he didn’t think Leonard could be objective and requested that he be removed from the telecast. HBO considered the request, and offered a compromise of sorts.

Normally, Leonard, Tompkins and Merchant meet with the principals before an HBO fight, but HBO executive producer Ross Greenburg said Leonard will not meet with either Curry or McCallum.

Also, the suit will be mentioned by Merchant during a prefight feature, said HBO spokesman Tony Fox. Leonard will later be given a chance to respond.

The coverage begins at 7 p.m.

Holdout Brian Bosworth finally signed a pro football contract, and it wasn’t with one of the five teams on his original preference list.

This team is the California Bulls, who will use Bosworth as a running back.

The Bulls are HBO’s fictitious team on a series that started in 1985 as “1st & 10.” Now called “1st & 10: Going for Broke,” it makes its 1987 debut Aug. 5.

Bosworth won’t appear until later in the year. He plays a veteran running back who holds out until the Bulls, despite objections from other owners in the league, sign him.

“The role was created for Brian,” said Peter Locke, the show’s executive producer. “Originally, he was Brian Bosworth, a rookie linebacker who is holding out. But then Brian was unavailable, so we changed the part to a veteran running back. When Brian became available again, it was too late to change it back.”

Bosworth was in the Los Angeles area this week taping the series. He finished up Thursday at the East L.A. College football stadium, then did several television and newspaper interviews.

About his role, he said: “It’s not me. They have me playing this guy who thinks he’s Superman, stuck on himself to the max. Anybody who takes the time to get to know me knows I’m not that way.”

His image, however, is that of a very cocky person.

“You guys in the media created that image,” he said. “You take things I say and twist them around just to sell 15,000 extra papers. It used to bother me, but I’ve gotten used to it.”

Arena Football, the made-for-television sport that has been getting good ratings on ESPN, may be coming to Los Angeles.

Jeanie Buss, daughter of Forum owner Jerry Buss, will go to Denver next Friday to watch a game between the Dynamite and the Chicago Bruisers.

“My father is a busy man, so he is sending me to take a look at the product,” Buss said. “He feels if Arena Football were to come to L.A., the Forum would be the logical place for it.”

This month’s edition of “Light Moments in Sports,” to be televised by Channel 4 at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, is devoted to sports etiquette. John McEnroe, Billy Martin, Earl Weaver and Bob Knight are among the hot-tempered sports figures who will be featured.

One of the scenes from the show involves a beanball incident during a game between teams from Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The recent melee between the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs pales in comparison.

With bat-wielding players threatening one another, riot police wearing helmets and carrying night sticks come onto the field to break things up.

NBC is basically set on its announcing team for track and field during the 1988 Olympic Games at Seoul, South Korea. The four main announcers will be Charlie Jones, Frank Shorter, Dwight Stones and women’s commentator Missy Kane, a 1,500-meter runner who was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team.

All four, coincidentally, are represented by San Francisco agent Martin Mandel.

Ahmad Rashad and Bruce Jenner also figure to be involved in the track and field coverage.

Chris Marlowe and Rita Crockett, also clients of Mandel, are close to being signed as volleyball commentators, according to Mandel.

Marlowe was captain of the U.S. volleyball team in 1984 at the age of 32. A former basketball and volleyball star at Palisades High, he is now an actor. Crockett, a member of the U.S. women’s volleyball team in 1984, is from Long Beach.

TV-Radio Notes WTBS reportedly is talking to former ABC sportscaster Jim Lampley about being the studio host of its college football shows this fall. . . . HBO has scored a coup by hiring actor James Earl Jones as the voice of its “Where Are They Now” segments for “Inside the NFL.” HBO executive producer Ross Greenburg’s brother Michael, a film producer, has worked with Jones and paved the way for the deal. . . . Former Denver linebacker Tom Jackson and former Raider tight end Dave Casper have been hired as NFL commentators by NBC. . . . Sportscaster Tommy Hawkins will wed Layla Lotfi Sunday in Pacific Palisades. . . . KABC radio’s Stu Nahan will receive the Westwood Shrine Club’s Distinguished Sports Award during a dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Aug. 12. . . . Channel 2’s Tony Hernandez, whose job was said to be in jeopardy a few months ago, had the option on his contract picked up.

Although competition actually began Monday, the opening ceremony for the U.S. Olympic Festival in North Carolina will be held today, and ESPN’s live coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ESPN will have 44 hours of live coverage during the Festival, which concludes July 26. . . . Included in ESPN’s coverage will be what the cable network calls “Page Two” features. One of those, to be shown Saturday between 9 and 11:30 a.m., will focus on Irvine High volleyball star Bev Oden and her older sisters, Kim and Elena, who were stars in the sport at Stanford and Pacific, respectively. During the same time block, Newport Beach kayaker Sheila Conover will be featured. During the 4:30-8 p.m. time period Saturday, softball pitcher Michelle Granger of Valencia High School in Placentia will be featured.

Gymnasts Nadia Comaneci, Olga Korbut, Mary Lou Retton and Kristie Phillips will be profiled on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” Saturday. . . . CBS announced that it will televise 15 regular-season NBA games next season, and six will involve the Lakers. Included in the schedule is a Feb. 14 meeting between Boston and the Lakers at the Forum. Prime Ticket will televise 26 Laker games next season, three more than last season. WTBS will show the Lakers nine times. . . . ESPN’s Al Bernstein, who sang at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in April, has signed to do a record for Cable Records.