Freedom Bowl Gets Big Boost From NBC Deal : Network Agrees to Broadcast ’89 Game at Anaheim Stadium

The Freedom Bowl further distanced itself from its humble beginnings when officials announced Tuesday that NBC would broadcast the Dec. 30 game.

No terms were made available, but depending on the success of the game--and its television ratings--the agreement with the network could extend beyond the 1989 game, as well as enhance the payoff for participating teams.

Already, Freedom Bowl executive director Tom Starr was calling the deal “another big milestone” in the bowl’s five-year history, while NBC executives boldly suggested that a national championship could be played in Anaheim Stadium within a decade.

In essence, the press conference was a celebration of backslaps and self congratulations. Members of the Anaheim City Council were in attendance and applauded enthusiastically as Starr, officials from NBC and Raycom--which owns the broadcast rights to the game--outlined their plans for the bowl’s success.

“I think you’ll see (the Freedom Bowl) for a while,” said Jonathan Miller, NBC vice president of programming.

Negotiations with NBC began about eight months ago, when Raycom and Freedom Bowl representatives approached the network about filling its sports programming needs for Dec. 30. Several other bowls, small to medium-sized, too, also contacted NBC about the opening in its schedule. In the end, NBC officials said they chose the Freedom Bowl because of its location, climate, viewing market and potential.

“We pride ourselves on the development of college football bowl games,” Miller said. Later, he added that “this bowl will grow in importance in a short period of time.”

Still to be determined is the length of NBC’s and Raycom’s involvement. Raycom representative Peter Lenz only would say that the company is committed to the 1989 game and, if all goes well, to future Freedom Bowls. Meanwhile, Miller said a title sponsor (such as the USF&G; Sugar Bowl and the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl) would help the Freedom Bowl’s future, as would a ratings share between 5 and 6 on Dec. 30.

A 5-6 share is comparable to what a regular-season college basketball game or Major League Game of the Week might earn. In other words, the ratings hopes are modest.

“We look at this as a long-term relationship,” said Gary Abrams, NBC’s director of sports contract negotiations. “We’re not in it for a year or two.”

There also is talk that a television package involving the Freedom Bowl and the newly approved Disneyland Pigskin Classic--a preseason game that is scheduled to debut in August of 1990 at Anaheim Stadium--could be in the works. Raycom owns the broadcast rights to the preseason game and might be interested in a similar deal with NBC. “We’re still going to sit down and talk,” Starr said.

Despite NBC’s broadcast duties, Raycom and the Freedom Bowl will determine the exact payoffs to participating teams. Colorado and Brigham Young split a $1 million payoff in 1988. Starr said that total will increase in 1989, “but not appreciably.

“It all depends on ticket sales,” he said.

Beginning in 1990, the minimum payoff will be $1.2 million for Freedom Bowl teams, increasing to $1.5 million in 1993.

Only 24,093 attended the Freedom Bowl’s inaugural game between Iowa and Texas. Last year’s game drew 35,941.