After Hype Is Over, Michaels Glad Just to Focus on Game

Al Michaels is approaching his first Super Bowl play-by-play assignment fairly casually.

“Because of all the hype during the week, and because of our two-hour pregame show, all we have to worry about is the game itself,” he said. “The table will have already been set.”

ABC’s Super Bowl pregame show Sunday will begin at 1 p.m., with game coverage starting at 3. The kickoff is set for 3:17.

CBS will provide radio coverage with Jack Buck and Hank Stram. The game will be carried by 265 stations, including KNX (1070) in Los Angeles and KFMB (760) in San Diego.

Coincidentally, Buck and ABC’s Dan Dierdorf both work for radio station KMOX in St. Louis.

Dennis Swanson, ABC Sports president, opened a press conference here by dispelling rumors that Frank Gifford might be dropped from the “Monday Night Football” team.

He said Gifford has a long-term contract that Swanson negotiated a year ago. Swanson also said that Michaels and Dierdorf were recently given new multiyear contracts.

“This team will remain intact well into the 1990s,” Swanson said.

According to Rudy Martzke of USA Today, Michaels will earn an average of $1.5 million a year under his new contract, and Dierdorf will earn $900,000.

Gifford makes $1.1 million a year, reported Martzke, adding that Keith Jackson has also signed a new multiyear contract, which calls for a yearly salary of $400,000.

ABC will have more than 30 cameras in and around San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium for Sunday’s game.

ABC will also have crews in 15 other locations, including Tecate, Mexico, Dennis Conner’s Stars and Stripes yacht, Beijing, Denver and Washington.

In all, ABC will be using $15 million worth of equipment.

ABC generally uses nine cameras on a regular “Monday Night” telecast.

Producer Ken Wolfe said that, despite the presence of the additional equipment, coverage of the game itself won’t be much different from a regular-season game.

“Keep in mind a lot of the additional cameras will be used for our two-hour pregame show, our halftime show and our postgame show,” Wolfe said.

Bob Griese, scheduled to serve as co-host of the pregame show with Jackson, had to cancel his trip here because of illness in his family. His only involvement in the telecast will be an analytical piece on the quarterbacks, which was taped earlier.

Another scratch was Bill Walsh, coach of the San Francisco 49ers, who had agreed to be a part of ABC’s coverage, then backed out. ABC wasn’t saying why. One report indicted Walsh wanted more money that the network was offering, but that’s hard to believe.

Besides Jackson, now the sole host of the pregame show, others taking part will be Jack Whitaker, Lynn Swann, Jim Hill, Becky Dixon, Mike Adamle, Minnesota Vikings Coach Jerry Burns, Cleveland Browns Coach Marty Schottenheimer and New York Giants linebacker Harry Carson.

ABC does not employ a Jimmy-the-Greek-type prognosticator. Asked why not, Swanson said: “Gambling outside the state of Nevada is illegal, so I see no need to have an odds maker connected with the show.”

Most of the game’s 51 30-second commercial spots sold for $600,000 to $650,000. Three or four late sales went for $675,000.

For last year’s Super Bowl, CBS’s top asking price was $600,000.

There will be a lot of Super Bowl-related programming this weekend. Unfortunately, two of the best specials, “John Madden’s Super Bowl Special,” and NFL Films’ “Road to the Super Bowl,” will be shown at the same time--7 p.m. Saturday.

Channel 2 is carrying the Madden show, Channel 7 the NFL Films’ special.

Recommended solution: Tape “Road to the Super.” You’ll want to watch it again and again anyway. The footage is marvelous. NFL Films and executive producer Steve Sabol have outdone themselves.

The show, with Dierdorf serving as host, opens with Richie Haven singing a specially written theme.

As for Madden’s show, Bob Horowitz, the executive producer of San Francisco-based Golden Gaters Producers, has also put together a winner.

Barry Thompkins will do several features, his workload having increased since Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder was dropped from the show, and Madden’s guests include Joe Theismann, Ronnie Lott and Dan Fouts.

Contributing to the Saturday night logjam is “Super Bowl Hot Seat,” with George Michaels. This half-hour special will be on Channel 4 at 7:30.

Besides the Super Bowl coaches, Joe Gibbs and Dan Reeves, Philadelphia Eagles Coach Buddy Ryan will also take part in the show.

ESPN’s big weekend begins with a special “Super Bowl Matchup” show tonight at 5.

ESPN will have 15 1/2 consecutive hours of Super Bowl-related programming, beginning at 11:30 p.m. Saturday with half-hour NFL Films’ highlight shows from the previous 21 Super Bowls.

“This Week in Sports,” focusing on the week’s festivities, will be shown at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, followed by “Super Bowl GameDay” at 8:30, with Chris Berman, Tom Jackson and Pete Axthelm.

On Saturday night, the USA cable network will televise the NFL Alumni Awards $1,000-a-plate dinner at the San Diego Convention and Performing Arts Center. The one-hour special will be shown live in the East at 10 p.m. and delayed until 10 p.m. in the West. Eleven of the NFL’s top players, plus Bob Hope and 12 astronauts who have walked on the moon, will be honored.

MTV, meanwhile, kicks off its Super Bowl weekend at 7 a.m. Saturday. On Sunday at 10:30 a.m., MTV will televise the “Super Bowl Tailgate Party” from San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, with Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen serving as co-hosts. Cher is scheduled to make an appearance.

Bronco and Redskin players will serve as VJs on taped segments throughout the day.

TV-Radio Notes

The first Senior Skins Game, with Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Sam Snead, will be held Saturday and Sunday at Turtle Bay Resort on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii, and will be televised by NBC. Coverage begins at 11 a.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Charlie Jones, Lee Trevino and Bob Goalby report.

Oops Dept.: Last Friday night, Channel 4’s Fred Roggin, while rolling highlights of the Sunkist indoor track meet, showed Ben Johnson winning the 55-meter dash. One problem. Johnson wasn’t in the Los Angeles meet. He was running in a meet at Ottawa, Canada.

Last Friday’s Mike Tyson-Larry Holmes fight on HBO drew a Nielsen rating of 34, meaning the fight was seen in 34% of the pay service’s 16 million homes. It was a record for an HBO fight, shattering the 27.9 for Holmes’ second fight with Michael Spinks in April, 1986.

Worst comeback attempt last weekend wasn’t Holmes’. It was Howard Cosell’s. His “Speaking of Everything” show, carried by Channel 4 Sunday night at 12:15, was dreadful. Woefully produced, the first segment was nothing more than Cosell attempting to show off as he questioned first Jack Lemmon and then Billy Crystal.