Alzado, Channel 4’s Roggin to Be an NBC Team

Former Raider Lyle Alzado has been hired by NBC-TV as a pro football analyst and will be paired with Channel 4’s Fred Roggin this season.

That was among the announcements made by NBC Sports during a news conference at the Century Plaza Hotel Saturday.

Dick Ebersol, NBC Sports president, said the team of Roggin and Alzado will work at least a few games that will be televised in Southern California.

“It’s hard to say at this time exactly how many games they will work,” Ebersol said. “We’ll just have to see how things go.”

Roggin has done NFL play-by-play for NBC on a limited basis since 1985, but none of his games were shown in Los Angeles.

About Saturday’s announcement, Roggin said: “I’m thrilled. I couldn’t be happier.”

Ebersol said a factor determining Roggin’s schedule is that Channel 4 is reluctant to have him miss many Sunday nights during the football season.

“We will try to accommodate Fred with West Coast assignments whenever possible,” Ebersol said.

However, Ebersol said Charlie Jones and Merlin Olsen, a new team this season, have also asked for West Coast assignments. Jones lives in La Jolla, Olsen in San Marino.

NBC also announced Saturday that Ebersol, besides being president of sports, will also become senior vice president of news, a role in which he will be the executive in charge of the “Today” show.

The hiring of former San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh to replace Olsen as the network’s No. 1 analyst was disclosed last week. Walsh will be paired with Dick Enberg.

Other NBC teams announced Saturday include Marv Albert and Bob Trumpy, Don Criqui and Ahmad Rashad, Cleveland sportscaster Jim Donovan and Jimmy Cefalo, and Tom Hammond and Joe Namath.

Paul Maguire, former “NFL Live” regular who was Albert’s analyst last season, has been retained, but his play-by-play partner has not been determined.

NBC’s newest employee, O.J. Simpson, who will replace Rashad on “NFL Live,” and Walsh were at Saturday’s news conference.

Simpson, California born and raised, said that he and his family will move to New York, so that he will not have to commute from Los Angeles.

“We’re looking at moving to New York as an adventure,” Simpson said, adding that he will keep his two Southern California homes. One is in Brentwood, the other in Laguna Beach.

Ebersol, overhearing the conversation, said: “Let ‘em know Alzado will be house-sitting for you, in case anybody gets the wrong idea.”

Simpson and his wife, Nicole, have two children--Sidney Brooke, 4, and Justin, 1.

His children by his first marriage are Arnelle, 21, a college student who has transferred from Colorado to Howard University in the Washington area, and Jason, 19, who is at USC.

Simpson made news earlier this year for an incident that took place at a New Year’s Day party in his home.

He was charged with attacking his wife. Police said he slapped and kicked his wife and screamed, “I’ll kill you.”

Saturday, Simpson said: “It was really a bum rap. We had a fight, that’s all. There were other people there. It was a party at my house.

“We were drinking. It would have never happened had we not been drinking.

“Some policemen came to the house that day and left after we told them it was nothing.

“Then some other police came the next day to follow up. They said new laws require a follow-up.

“I was stunned it made the papers a month later. We decided that if we fought it, it would just drag things outs.”

In May, Simpson, after pleading no contest, was given two years’ probation, fined $200, ordered to donate $500 to an organization for battered women and ordered to undergo counseling.

Terry O’Neil, NBC Sports executive producer, said a recent survey showed Simpson to be the most recognizable and likable football personality.

“We think he is most suited for studio work,” O’Neil said.

O’Neil said Walsh will work six games during the exhibition season in preparation for his assignment.

Walsh said he became interested in the NBC job immediately upon being contacted by O’Neil about four weeks ago.

He stressed that he was not leaving the 49ers because of any dispute with owner Ed DeBartolo Jr.

“Over the past 10 years, we had the best relationship of any coach and owner in the league,” Walsh said.

“I learned that the 49ers are so well organized that my job in management would not keep me very busy,” Walsh said. “And I like to keep busy.”

O’Neil said he originally thought that going after Walsh was a shot in the dark. “I thought he would tell us he was happy with the 49ers,” O’Neil said. “I never thought we’d ever be able to get the most successful coach in the NFL during the 1980s.”

And if Walsh had rejected NBC’s offer?

“Then our No. 1 team would have remained Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen,” O’Neil said. “We wouldn’t have replaced Merlin with anybody else.”