A New Day Coming for the Rose Bowl

New Year’s Eve, 2001:

Thousands of Southland families pack up the kids, the coolers and the sleeping bags for an overnight camp-out along the streets of Pasadena in eager anticipation of the next morning’s Rose Parade, which will be grand and glorious and will send a hyper-stimulated crowd merrily on its way to . . .

A day off.

And after that, another full 24 hours without football.

And then, finally, at 5 p.m.--8 p.m. EST--on Jan. 3,

2002, the 88th Rose Bowl will kick off before a prime-time national ABC audience.

What’s a Rose Bowl two days after New Year’s Day?

The “national championship game,” in the preferred parlance of ABC and its corporate sponsors.

Such is the compromise that the granddaddy had to accept in order to be included in the new “super” bowl alliance, also known as the College Football Championship Series, in which the Rose, Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls will each host the national title game once in a four-year period.

During the first four-year cycle, which begins in 1999, ABC will televise all four games annually, spreading them over a three- to four-day period to maximize prime-time exposure.

The initial rotation:

YEAR 1, 1999: Jan. 1--Rose Bowl, 2 p.m. PST, followed by the Sugar Bowl; Jan. 2--Orange Bowl, 5 p.m.; Jan. 4--Fiesta Bowl, 5 p.m., national championship game.

YEAR 2, 2000: Jan. 1--Rose Bowl, 2 p.m., followed by the Orange Bowl; Jan. 2--Fiesta Bowl, 5 p.m; Jan. 3--Sugar Bowl, 5 p.m., national championship game.

YEAR 3, 2001: Jan. 1--Rose Bowl, 2 p.m., followed by the Fiesta Bowl; Jan. 2--Sugar Bowl, 5 p.m.; Jan. 3--Orange Bowl, 5 p.m, national championship game.

YEAR 4, 2002: Jan. 1--Fiesta Bowl, 2 p.m., followed by the Sugar Bowl; Jan. 2--Orange Bowl, 5 p.m.; Jan. 3--Rose Bowl, 5 p.m., national championship game.

“We all want to build this up as a real happening,” says Mark Mandel, director of media relations for ABC Sports. “The Rose Bowl has a great tradition and great ratings, but you can’t stand still in this business.

“The whole idea with the super alliance is to consolidate the bowl picture and establish a true No. 1. And the decision was made to go all in prime time in order to maximize our opportunities for ratings. That’s good for college football, that’s good for the conferences, that’s good for the teams.”

Jon Litner, vice president of programming for ABC sports, sees the three-day, four-game format as “an incredible promotional effort building toward the championship game.” And for the Rose Bowl to host that championship game once every four years, it had to chip away at its heritage and relinquish its traditional kickoff of 2 p.m. on New Year’s Day.

“If we kept the Rose Bowl in its traditional slot, it would be, in essence, the first game of our series,” Litner says. “That wouldn’t be logical. It doesn’t make sense to begin the championship series with the game that is going to be the culmination of your season.

“By doing that, the other games are diminished. It would be like the NFL playing the Super Bowl in December, followed by the playoffs.”

Litner notes that for the first three years of the cycle, the Rose Bowl will remain in its customary time slot. But in 2002, the Rose Parade-Rose Bowl alliance will be torn asunder for the first time, separated by a 48-hour TV timeout.

“It wasn’t our first choice,” concedes Jack French, executive director of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Assn. “We worried about it, we fretted about it.

“But after several years of discussions, we came to the conclusion that it had to be done. It’s the only way ABC could make it work.”

Looking for a silver lining, French suggests that in 2002, “instead of rushing from the parade to the game in 90 minutes, you’ve now got two days.

“And that means two more days of visitors using our hotels and restaurants. From an economic impact standpoint, it benefits the city.”

And what to do with all the in-between dead time?

French says there are plans for a Jan. 2 “all-day fan fest--the college equivalent of ‘The NFL Experience’ [during Super Bowl week]. We’re going to fill the time. And we may find out that this works better for us.”

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS, UNPLUGGED

XTRA’s decision this week to pull out of the bidding for the San Diego Chargers’ broadcast rights in 1998 and beyond leaves an already Ramless and Raiderless populace to consider a future with no more “TOUCH-DOWN SAAAN DEE-AY-GOOOH!!” no more “Everybody into the pattern!” and, worst of all, no more “Dammit, it’s Shawn Lee offsides again!” after December.

Lee “Hacksaw” Hamilton’s uproarious, eccentric broadcasts have become as much a part of Charger lore as Stan Humphries hobbling to the sideline after yet another blind-side sack, but his 11-year relationship with the team could be beginning its final eight weeks.

“I’m very sad,” Hamilton says. “I don’t think this is fair. Maybe I’m taking it too personally, but how can I be fired when my play-by-play is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame [as part of a video exhibit on the Chargers]?

According to Kevin McCarthy, XTRA vice president and general manager, the station pulled its offer to renew its contract with the Chargers when the team said it wanted to wait until December, after the NFL’s television contract negotiations are concluded, before making a decision on 1998.

“That timetable wasn’t workable for us,” McCarthy says. “The people we wanted to sell advertising to in 1998 are making decisions. We need to be in the front row with them.”

Hamilton is still hopeful of a 12th season as the Chargers’ play-by-play announcer, possibly with another station on a freelance basis, possibly with XTRA if “the Chargers come back to us if they don’t like what they see in December. . . .

HACKSAW VERSUS BARKLEY

Hamilton stirred a tempest on his Monday afternoon talk show with heated remarks about Charles Barkley’s latest bar altercation and arrest.

Phone calls to this office, and to McCarthy at XTRA, asserted that Hamilton had called Barkley “a ‘90s . . . “ on the air, but Hamilton claims he was quoting Barkley talking about himself.

“That’s his quote,” Hamilton says. “He refers to himself as that. Barkley called himself that in an interview a few years ago and I repeated that.”

Hamilton is correct. Barkley did use the phrase to describe himself--while he was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Hamilton said, “I had 19 voice mails on it the first night. But most of them didn’t hear what I said or just heard a piece of it. I would never use that term, except as an example of what Barkley had said about himself.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for sports programs Sept. 14-16. SATURDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Baseball: World Series, Cleveland at Florida 4 17.0 33 College football: Arizona at Washington State 7 4.6 14 College football: Boston College at Notre Dame 4 2.8 9 College football: Washington at Oregon State 9 1.7 4 College football: Kentucky at Georgia 2 1.0 3

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SUNDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Baseball: World Series, Cleveland at Florida 4 29.5 44 Pro football: Jacksonville at Pittsburgh 4 15.1 34 Pro football: Dallas at Philadelphia 11 10.3 24 Pro football: Denver at Buffalo 4 10.0 23 Pro soccer: MLS Cup, Colorado vs. D.C. United 7 2.1 5 Hockey: Kings at Tampa Bay 9 1.3 2

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MONDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Pro football: Green Bay at New England 7 20.7 31

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