More Than Medals Could Be at Stake in Winter Games

The Winter Olympics race that concerns ABC the most is one you won’t see on your screen.

It’s the ratings race.

The Calgary Games just happen to occur during the all-important February sweeps period--when advertising rates are determined--and ABC is hoping that events such as downhill skiing will enable the network to end up on top.

There are four sweeps periods during the year, but the February sweeps is considered the most important, and is when the networks and independent stations bring out their heavyweight programming.

The last time ABC won a February sweeps was during the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. The network will try to do it again.

That’s one reason for the barrage of Winter Olympics promos the last few months.

Another reason is that the network is hoping to attract enough viewers to meet its guarantees to sponsors. That will reportedly take an overall Nielsen average of 21.

In 1984, the Sarajevo Games averaged an 18.2 rating, well below expectations. In 1980, the Lake Placid Games averaged a 23.7.

For the Calgary Games, the fee for a 30-second prime-time spot is $285,000, which is about $70,000 more than a prime-time unit cost during ABC’s coverage of either the 1984 Winter or Summer Olympics.

But even at those prices, there is no way ABC will make a profit on the Calgary Games. “No, as in N-O, we cannot make a profit,” Dennis Swanson, president of ABC Sports, emphasized.

The main problem is that the rights cost $309 million.

The rights to the Sarajevo Games cost $91 million. The L.A. Games cost $225 million, and NBC won the rights to this year’s Summer Games in Seoul with a $300-million bid.

So how did ABC get stuck with such a stiff tab for Calgary?

Well, for one thing, the bidding was held in January, 1984, before that year’s Winter Games and their less-than-satisfactory ratings.

Also, ABC, which likes to call itself the “Network of the Olympics,” went into the bidding intending to get the rights no matter what the cost.

But even though the network was prepared to go as high as $320 million, no one thought the bidding would go anywhere near $300 million.

ABC executives in on the bidding, held at a hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, claim they were manipulated into a bidding war with NBC by the Calgary organizing committee, Olympiques Canada Olympics (OCO), and its adviser, Barry Frank.

Roone Arledge, then president of ABC Sports, reportedly emerged from the meetings so angry that his face was beet-red.

But much of the bitterness between the network and the OCO seems to have since been forgotten.

ABC has a different owner now, Capital Cities, and Arledge is no longer president of the sports division, although he is still president of ABC News and will be the hands-on executive producer during the competition at Calgary.

Geoff Mason, ABC’s vice president in charge of Olympic operations who will become the sports division’s executive producer after the Games, has high praise for the committee and the job it has done in Calgary.

“Things have gone so smoothly it’s scary,” he said from Calgary. “The venues are the best I have ever seen. The indoor speed skating arena is absolutely fantastic.

“In fact, most of the facilities were built with TV in mind.”

ABC may be faced with the reality of losing millions of dollars on the Games, but nevertheless the network is going all out with its coverage.

Capital Cities could easily have chosen to cut costs to recoup losses. But that has not been the case.

“Cap Cities has made a full commitment to the Calgary Games, in terms of people, program hours, facilities and financing,” Mason said. “The feeling is, we owe it to the viewers and to the sponsors to provide the best coverage possible. We are sparing no expense.”

Said Swanson: “You can’t cut corners when you’re as committed to as many hours as we are. We have an obligation to our sponsors. We have to deal with them 365 days a year. The loss will be what the loss is.”

The ratings for Calgary should be higher than they were for Sarajevo because most programming will be live, except in the Pacific time zone, where most of the programming will be delayed three hours.

On Saturday, opening day, daytime coverage will run from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (PST) with live coverage of the opening ceremony. Nighttime coverage will run from 8 to 11 p.m., with delayed hockey coverage. The United States will play Austria that night, and the Soviet Union will play Norway.

On Sunday, daytime coverage, featuring the men’s downhill, will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Prime-time coverage, highlighted by men’s speed skating and pairs figure skating, will run from 7 to 11 p.m.

Weeknight programming will run from 8 to 11 p.m., Eastern and Pacific times, with wrap-up coverage running from 11:30 p.m. to midnight.

During the next two weekends of the Games, there will be as many as six hours of coverage during the day, plus four hours--7 to 11--at night.

Also, there will be three hours of daytime coverage on Monday, Feb. 22, President’s Day.

Most of the daytime coverage on weekends will be shown live across the country, including the Pacific time zone.

An ABC spokeswoman, Cathy Rehl, said there’s a possibility that some of the weeknight programming might be shown live in the West as well, which would mean a 5 p.m. starting time. “If something of great magnitude (is developing), we may end up showing it live in the West rather than delayed,” Rehl said.

Calgary is located in the Mountain time zone, which is two hours behind the Eastern zone and an hour ahead of the Pacific zone.

Overall, ABC will present 94 1/2 hours of coverage from Calgary, including 53 hours in prime time, 34 1/2 hours during weekend daytime, 7 hours of late-night programming.

There were 63 hours of coverage from the 1984 Winter Olympics and 53 hours from the ’80 Winter Games.

Except for the 186 hours of coverage provided during the 1984 Summer Olympics at Los Angeles, there will be more hours of television coverage from Calgary than from any previous Olympic Games--Summer or Winter.

TV-Radio Notes

Jim McKay, who signed a new multiyear contract with ABC in November, will again serve as ABC’s prime-time host. Calgary will be McKay’s 11th Olympics. Peter Jennings will join McKay for Saturday’s opening ceremony. . . . Frank Gifford and wife Kathie Lee Gifford will be co-hosts of the late-night shows, and Keith Jackson will be a weekend daytime host.

Other key assignments include Al Michaels and Ken Dryden on hockey, Al Trautwig and Bob Beattie on Alpine skiing, with Jack Edwards doing interviews, and Dick Button and Peggy Fleming on figure skating, with David Santee doing interviews. . . . Jiggs McDonald, one-time King announcer now with the New York Islanders, will work with Mike Eruzione on hockey games not covered by the team of Michaels and Dryden.

Gary Bender and Eric Heiden will work together on speed skating, with Jackson and Lydia Stephans handling short-track speed skating, a demonstration sport some call Roller Derby with credibility. . . . Lynn Swann and John Morgan will cover the bobsledding, and Sam Posey and John Tucker the luge. Chris Schenkel will work with Jeff Hastings and Greg Windsperger on ski jumping. It will be Mike Adamle and Bill Koch on cross-country skiing and Adamle and Kari Swensen on the biathlon.

Roving reporters include Donna de Varona, Dan Dierdorf, Becky Dixon, Jim Hill, Cheryl Miller, Jack Whitaker and Tim McCarver, who will also cover freestyle skiing, another demonstration sport, with Jeff Chumas. . . . De Varona will have her baby, John David, born Jan. 30, with her in Calgary. Her sister, actress Joanna Kerns, co-star of ABC’s “Growing Pains,” will be on hand to help take care of the infant.