Half-Billion Viewers Can’t Be Wrong About This Being a Big Event

There is an event on television Sunday that will attract a larger audience than any other this year.

No, the Super Bowl isn’t coming early. It’s the World Cup draw, and it is expected to attract a world-wide audience of 500 million soccer fans.

In the United States, it is relegated to afternoon cable television. But in most other countries, viewers will hang on every pluck of the colored Ping-Pong balls that will determine who plays whom and where in the tournament that runs from June 17 to July 17 next year.

The process takes 30 minutes at the most, but FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, as it always does, makes this event an entertainment extravaganza.

ESPN will televise the 90-minute show from the Las Vegas Convention Center, beginning at noon. Univision will carry it for Spanish-speaking viewers.

Dick Clark will produce the show, which headlines Barry Manilow, Vanessa Williams and Julio Iglesias. Elton John and Rod Stewart will perform via satellite. Tom Selleck, from Los Angeles, and Lou Gossett Jr., from New York, will present video highlights of each host city’s preparation for the World Cup.

An audience of 3,500 invited guests will view the show live.

ESPN will supplement the world-feed coverage provided by the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) with its own features and analysis. Bob Ley will serve as the host and will be joined by analyst Seamus Malin and reporter Bob Carpenter.

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Add World Cup: ESPN will televise 41 of the 52 World Cup games, with ABC covering the 11 others, including the championship game at the Rose Bowl.

Univision will televise all 52 games.

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New deal: NBC has signed Bob Costas to a new multiyear contract that calls for him to work for all three network divisions--sports, news and entertainment.

Costas, on a conference call with reporters Thursday, said he seriously considered taking an offer from CBS to serve as host of a late-night show following David Letterman.

But he said the “cross-divisional” aspect of NBC’s offer, plus a chance to announce baseball again, and also serve as host of the 1996 Summer Olympics at Atlanta, made it too good to pass up.

Costas will regularly contribute segments to some of NBC’s news programs, and each year will have several of his own one-hour prime-time specials touching on a number of topics.

Costas, 41, has been at NBC since 1980 and will be NBC’s primary baseball play-by-play announcer when the network begins televising the sport again next season. He also will continue to serve as host of “NBA Showtime.”

Costas will soon discontinue his “Later” show, which will become “Later With Greg Kinnear” after Jan. 28.

His weekly syndicated radio show, “Costas Coast-to-Coast,” carried by KMPC on Sunday nights, will continue but Costas, cutting back, will share the host role with Pat O’Brien and another broadcaster yet to be named.

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Oops Department: A report by Channel 2’s Jim Hill last Sunday night had Clipper owner Donald Sterling somehow involved in the Bobby Hurley accident.

That was news to Sterling, who was enjoying himself at his Beverly Hills home after the Clippers’ victory at Sacramento. When he was called and told about the erroneous report, Sterling phoned Hill at the station to set the record straight.

The news of the accident involving the rookie guard for the Sacramento Kings hit the wires about 10:45 p.m., and was reported by independent stations 13, 11 and 5.

Sterling’s name was not mentioned in any of those reports. However, according to Channel 2 lead sports producer Dan Noel, Jim Gray, a sports reporter for the CBS network, called the station and said he had heard from a friend that Sterling was involved in an accident.

Gray said he simply called the station to ask if it was true about Sterling, not to tip them.

Noel said another Channel 2 producer called the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and got the charge nurse in the emergency room, who according to both Noel and Hill, said Sterling had indeed been injured in the Hurley accident.

But Linda King, public affairs manager at the hospital who was on duty Sunday night, said the hospital phone logs don’t show any inquiries about Sterling.

She also said there was no one by the name of Donald Sterling in the hospital at the time, so it wasn’t a case of mistaken identity.

A reporter from the CBS affiliate in Sacramento, filing a report for Channel 2, said the name of the other driver was “Chet something” (the driver was later identified as Daniel Wieland) and that the car was an old station wagon with paint cans in the back. That certainly made it unlikely that the driver was Sterling.

And it also was unlikely that Sterling would be a passenger in Hurley’s vehicle.

Noel said that Channel 2 also tried to reach Clipper publicist Joe Safety in Sacramento.

Because Sterling called in to correct the mistake, there was no great harm. But it does serve as a reminder for broadcasters that, when dealing with a breaking story, it pays to be careful and double-check facts.

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Out of place: One of the corniest, most amateurish things ever seen on local sports television in Los Angeles was shown at halftime of Channel 13’s coverage of last Friday’s prep championship game between Rialto Eisenhower and Santa Ana Mater Dei.

KFWB’s Randy Kerdoon and and KMPC’s Andre Aldrich were scheduled as halftime guests to analyze the first half.

But Kerdoon, shocking executive producer Peter Schlesinger and everyone else, decided to seize the moment and ended up thoroughly embarrassing himself, Channel 13, and his employer, KFWB, supposedly a credible news organization.

Kerdoon came on wearing a Ram jersey, complete with shoulder pads, and a headband with KFWB penned on it. He then told a couple of inappropriate jokes.

He held up a blow-up doll and, acting as if he were in a singles bar, made a few “aerial passes.” He also held up two Rush Limbaugh books and made a crack about “avoiding the rush.”

The station, which otherwise did a pretty good job of covering the game, would have been a lot better off showing the marching bands.

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Add prep telecast: It was bad enough that Eisenhower left its starters in the game to run up the score against outmanned Mater Dei, but worse was the conduct of some of the Eisenhower players, including star quarterback Glenn Thompkins and wide receiver-defensive back Walter Ford.

For some reason, they decided to signify that they were No. 1 by raising their middle fingers for the cameras. Thompkins, in a sideline interview with Artie Ojeda, said he’d like to put his ring right “on this finger,” but it wasn’t his ring finger that he held up to the camera.

The inappropriate behavior by the Eisenhower players tempered what should have been a glorious moment.

TV-Radio Notes

Here’s some good news for those tired of those awful rock videos ABC has been using to introduce “Monday Night Football.” ABC is bringing out Hank Williams Jr. one more time for Monday night’s game between the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints. Williams will once again ask the question: “Are you ready for some football?” But he’ll appear in a new video. . . . ABC’s college basketball coverage begins Saturday at 10:30 a.m. with Ohio State at North Carolina. Roger Twibell and Dick Vitale are the announcers, but the regular ABC team later in the season will be Brent Musburger and Vitale. . . . UCLA’s game against Louisiana State on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion will be televised by ESPN.

Unexpected visitor: NBC was about to go back on the air for the second half of last Sunday’s game between the Cleveland Browns and Houston Oilers at the Astrodome when play-by-play announcer Charlie Jones noticed former President George Bush looking in the doorway of the broadcast booth. Jones motioned for Bush to come on down, partner Todd Christensen got up and offered Bush his seat and headset, and Jones conducted an impromptu interview. . . . Add Jones: Not only will he and Christensen announce the Cotton Bowl for NBC on New Year’s Day, Jones, who lives in La Jolla, has also been named honorary chairman of the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 30.

Julio Cesar Chavez, in his first fight since his controversial draw with welterweight Pernell Whitaker, returns to the 140-pound division to defend his World Boxing Council super-lightweight title against Commonwealth champion Andy Holligan Saturday night at Puebla, Mexico, in a fight to be televised by Showtime on tape on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. Fighting on the same card, in separate bouts, are Terry Norris and Michael Nunn.

Anthony Munoz makes his debut as a network commentator for CBS on Sunday, working with Dick Stockton on the Rams’ game at Cincinnati. Munoz will also work the Bengals’ game at Atlanta the following Sunday. . . . TNT offers an outstanding NBA doubleheader tonight--the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls at 5 p.m. followed by the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns.