Skins Game Site Has the Look That Sells

Amid all the football this holiday weekend will be the Skins Game, traditionally one of the highest-rated golf events of the year.

With a lineup of David Duval, Tiger Woods, Tom Lehman and Mark O’Meara, more high ratings are expected for the Saturday and Sunday telecasts on ABC.

But television will not be the only beneficiary of the 15th Skins Game. So will Rancho La Quinta, the site of the event.

Rancho La Quinta was little more than a weed patch in 1993 when it was purchased for $20 million by T.D. Desert Development, which is made up of two Birmingham, Ala., companies, Torchmark Insurance and the Drummond Co.

Then in 1995 Bob Barrett, T.D.’s director of golf, and project manager Tom Cullinan decided to go after the

Skins Game, which had been held at nearby Bighorn. Rancho La Quinta, now in the second year of a three-year deal, agreed to spend more than $1 million each year to host the made-for-TV event, with most of that being a site fee.

The gamble has paid off. Cullinan says that in the 12-month period since last year’s Skins Game, Rancho La Quinta has sold more than 100 new homes valued at more than $30 million, a 25% increase over the previous year.

“Our place comes across very photogenic on television,” Cullinan said. “You just can’t buy that kind of advertising.”

ADD SKINS GAME

Vin Scully, the lead announcer on all but one of the previous Skins Games telecasts, will not be a part of this year’s coverage because ABC wanted its man, Mike Tirico, to work the event. Also, highly regarded Mark Rolfing, who has gone from ABC to NBC, has been replaced by Peter Jacobsen. Curtis Strange rounds out the announcing team.

NBC’S NEW TEAM

NBC is taking a gamble on Isiah Thomas. There is no guarantee that Thomas, who talks slowly and softly, will be a good television commentator, even though Dick Ebersol, NBC president, is convinced he will be.

Ebersol, of course, is also very high on Thomas’ NBA play-by-play partner, Bob Costas, calling him “one of the greatest sportscasting talents of our time.”

Ebersol said he decided to go with a two-man No. 1 team to give Thomas room to grow.

NBC’s other two teams are made of three announcers, and Ebersol said Bill Walton might join the No. 1 team for the All-Star game and the NBA finals.

Walton doesn’t seem to be upset about being passed over by a rookie. “I’ve worked a lot of promotional events with Isiah and he always handles himself so well,” Walton said. “He’s a special person.”

Matt Guokas got bumped back to the No. 3 team, although Ebersol said Guokas will be used on the pregame show when possible. Another new member of the pregame show cast is John Salley, a former teammate of Thomas’ in Detroit. “Salley was among 11 candidates [to replace Julius Erving] and blew the socks off the competition during his audition,” Ebersol said.

RADIO DAZE

Putting O.J. Simpson on the air last Friday proved to be a bad idea for sports station AM 1150.

Simpson first called on Thursday, but the person answering the phone didn’t believe it was really Simpson. A Simpson representative called the next day to complain. So Roy Laughlin, station general manager, agreed to let Simpson go on and talk about the USC-UCLA rivalry. He told Joe McDonnell to only ask football questions.

“Anyone who knows me knows I would unload on O.J. unless I was ordered not to,” McDonnell said.

The reaction to McDonnell’s soft interview with Simpson was so intense that Laughlin had to release a statement apologizing for having Simpson on.

“It is not our intention to offend members of the community and we apologize to all who were offended,” read the statement, in part.

Shortly after talking with McDonnell, Simpson called back and, off the air, offered to come back on in the future and allow any questions and take calls.

Laughlin, apparently learning a lesson, said there are no plans at this time to do that.

ADD RADIO DAZE

The zinger of the week came from Bill Kuharich, the New Orleans Saints’ president and general manager, who was a guest on “Loose Cannon Talk” with Steve Hartman and Bill Werndl, on XTRA 690.

As he wrapped up the interview, Kuharich said, “What is this Werndl Wire? I was in San Diego, Bill, when you said I was going to be fired and replaced by [Indianapolis’] Bill Tobin. I used to think you had good sources, but now I’d say they’re about the same caliber as Fred Edelstein’s.”

Edelstein, always citing mysterious sources, worked for ESPN until the network grew tired of all his embarrassing inaccuracies.

COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT

ABC assigned its No. 3 production crew to the UCLA-USC game, and it showed. For one thing, the camera work was shoddy. And what’s with the Bruce Snyder interviews? For the second week in a row, ABC had a live phone interview with the Arizona State coach, and this one came right as USC’s Chad Morton was running for a touchdown at the start of the second quarter.

It wasn’t a great weekend for ABC. During the three-hole playoff at the LPGA Tour Championship on Sunday, the entire second hole plus the third-hole tee shots disappeared from ABC’s delayed coverage without explanation. An ABC spokesman this week said because of a late start, slow play and the playoff, the playoff was edited for the West Coast. Elsewhere, it was worse. Live coverage was simply cut off before the third and final playoff hole.

IN CLOSING

Channel 5 and Channel 9 have done some refining of their sportscasts, and with good results for two of the good guys in the business. Ed Arnold’s Saturday and Sunday night shows have a new name, “KTLA Sports Online,” and a new look, and Channel 9’s Tom Murray now has an expanded 15-minute segment called “The Final Quarter” every weeknight, 10:45 to 11 p.m.

Arnold has fit in nicely in Channel 5’s No. 1 spot while also continuing to do weekends. That’s one reason Channel 5 is taking its time in hiring a replacement for the partially retired Stu Nahan.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for sports programs Nov. 22-24.

SATURDAY

*--*

Event Ch. Rating Share College football: UCLA at USC 7 15.3 38 Boxing: Juan Manuel Marquez-Alfred Kotey 9 3.7 7 College football: West Virginia at Notre Dame 4 2.2 6 College football: Florida State at Florida 2 1.5 4 Golf: World Cup of Golf 2 09. 2

*--*

SUNDAY

*--*

Event Ch. Rating Share Pro football: San Diego at San Francisco 4 16.1 36 Pro football: Dallas at Green Bay 11 13.9 34 Pro football: Miami at New England 4 6.4 16 Pro basketball: Clippers at Lakers 9 6.4 9 Golf: LPGA Tour Championship 7 1.1 2 Golf: World Cup of Golf 2 0.9 2 Tennis: WTA Chase Championships 7 0.9 2

*--*

MONDAY

*--*

Event Ch. Rating Share Pro football: Oakland at Denver 7 19.7 29

*--*

Note: Each rating point represents 50,092 L.A. households.