THE WORLD SERIES : OAKLAND ATHLETICS vs. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS : Move Saves ABC From Major Loss

Since a World Series telecast grosses more than $15 million, ABC had a lot at stake when Major League Baseball decided to resume the Series next Tuesday.

There is, of course, a big difference between gross loss and net loss, but ABC still would have lost a considerable amount of money, as well as viewers, had the Series been canceled.

So did ABC pressure Major League Baseball?

The official line from the network is that it left the decision solely up to baseball.

And from ABC’s point of view, saving this Series might not have been worth a fight, mainly because the ratings have been terrible.

Game 1 last Saturday drew a national Nielsen rating of 16.2, by far the lowest for a prime-time World Series telecast. The previous low was a 19.2 for Game 1 of the Minnesota-St. Louis Series in 1987.

Last year’s Game 1, in which Kirk Gibson hit his dramatic home run, had a 20.5.

Game 2 Sunday attracted only a 17.4 rating, down from a 23.1 for Game 2 last year.

Despite the record lows, the average of 16.6 for the first two Series games was higher than ABC averaged for all its prime-time programming during the week. The overall average was a 14.7.

That 14.7 rating was high enough for ABC to win the ratings war last week for the first time in 68 weeks. NBC had won all of those.

The Series was enough to push ABC over the top.

Had the Series been canceled, ABC probably wouldn’t have received a refund for its rights fee paid to Major League Baseball, according to industry experts.

That’s because the cancellation would have been caused by, in legal terms, a force majeure. In other words, an act of God.

So Major League Baseball would more than likely have been off the hook, unless it voluntarily offered ABC a refund. That would have been unlikely since, beginning next season, baseball will be doing business with CBS instead of NBC and ABC.

But, had the Series been canceled, ABC probably wouldn’t have taken any cash out of its pocket, either. It probably would have offered sponsors additional commercials at no charge. Such spots are called make-goods.