ABC to Bid for Selected Games but Not Entire ’94 World Cup

ABC has decided that it will bid for selected games in the 1994 World Cup but is not interested in televising the entire tournament.

ABC Sports President Dennis Swanson, attending the Wimbledon tennis championships, said the American viewer interest does not justify purchasing rights to the entire tournament, which consists of 52 games over four weeks.

NBC said Monday that it will not make a bid for U.S. rights to the 1994 World Cup, the first to be held in the United States.

“Although there isn’t that much interest in the U.S., the World Cup is still the World Cup,” Swanson said Tuesday evening.

Turner Broadcasting’s TNT Network is showing the 1990 tournament, but fewer than 2% of its viewers are watching. Swanson said the 1994 tournament might be split between a network and a cable company in the United States.

“There are 52 games, and I don’t think any network will be interested in that,” he said. “But if the financial deal is right, we would be interested in a few games.”

Turner paid about $7.5 million for rights to this year’s tournament.

“Cable had the entire deal this World Cup, and that very well might happen again,” Swanson said.

ABC broadcast the final of the 1982 tournament in Spain.