Madden’s Cruiser Stays Parked at Fox

John Madden, after using the press for some negotiating leverage, signed a new five-year deal with Fox late Thursday.

So all the talk about him going to ABC stops here.

Madden, 61, talked to ABC, but the network passed, an ABC spokesman said.

The price no doubt was a factor.

One source said his new deal with Fox will pay him close to the $8-million a year his old one did.

So one of the pieces in a complex puzzle is now in place in a free-agent market that got flooded this week when NBC lost its NFL package to CBS.

Combining inside tips with a little guesswork and some wishful thinking, here are some predictions:

* Dick Enberg will stay with NBC, his longtime employer, contenting himself with golf, Wimbledon, the French Open, Olympics, and being the No. 2 play-by-play announcer on the NBA. Enberg will move up to No. 1 on the NBA next season after Bob Costas decides he needs more time off.

* Greg Gumbel will be the host of the new “NFL Today” on CBS. He’ll be joined by NBC teammates Cris Collinsworth and Sam Wyche and one or two others. Joe Gibbs will decide he wants to devote more time to his NASCAR racing team. Will McDonough will go back to being a full-time sports columnist.

* Phil Simms will choose between offers from Fox and CBS.

* Jim Kelly will talk about returning to football but will settle for a job with CBS.

* Paul Maguire will take a job as a radio sports-talk host in Buffalo.

* Jim Mora will be on his way to getting fired by the Indianapolis Colts.

* Bob Trumpy will get a job as a football recruiter for USC, where he can tell everyone, “We’re the only team in town.”

* Charlie Jones, the dean, will get a job at CBS.

* Tom Hammond will stay at NBC.

* Randy Cross will go back to CBS.

* Jim Nantz will be the lead NFL play-by-play announcer at CBS, paired with Pat Haden.

* Sean McDonough and Terry Donahue will be No. 2 team, and every time they do a game in Dallas the media there will ask Donahue why he isn’t coaching the Cowboys because Gary Kubiak, the new Cowboy coach, will have a losing record.

* Mark May and Keith Jackson--the other Keith Jackson--of TNT will get jobs at CBS.

* Sean Jones of TNT will be on Jim Rome’s radio show even more often.

* James Lofton of NBC, a Stanford graduate, will end up on CBS’ “NFL Today.”

* Verne Lundquist of TNT, following Dick Stockton’s lead, will continue doing the NBA for TNT and TBS and also do football for Fox or CBS.

* Marv Albert will remain unemployed.

CENTURY-WEST 2 UPDATE

Next Wednesday’s USC-UCLA basketball game will be televised on Fox Sports West 2, which means Century subscribers on the West Side and elsewhere will not be able to see the game. Century does not carry Fox Sports West 2.

Joe DiBacco, a Century Communications vice president, said his company is trying to negotiate a deal.

Said Fox Sports West spokesman Steve Webster, “Yes, we are negotiating but we still don’t have a deal, so the people on the West Side are still missing games, and unless we have a deal by next Wednesday, they’ll miss the USC-UCLA game.”

Century is a big supporter of UCLA athletics. A twice-a-month, public-access show, “Bruin Talk,” produced by UCLA students, is taped at the Century studios in San Monica.

Also, Century donates video equipment to UCLA and regularly runs an ad in sports programs that reads: “We’re hooked on Bruin basketball: If it’s all-out sports excitement you’re after, hook up with Century.”

It sure would be nice if that were true all the time.

SHORT WAVES

Nothing earth-shattering came out of O.J. Simpson’s interview on ESPN’s “Up Close” Thursday, although Simpson’s saying that the Bible shows that Jesus and Moses went through the same thing as he did is sure to offend some people.

“Up Close” host Chris Myers, who had more to lose than gain by doing the interview, didn’t soften the questions, nor did he badger Simpson. If anything, Simpson badgered him. Give credit to ESPN for letting the live interview run 25 minutes over the allotted time.

Sunday afternoon NFL games next season will start at 1:15 Pacific time. Both Sunday and Monday night games will start at 5:20. . . . ABC and ESPN have contracted to televise all 32 games of the 1999 Women’s World Cup soccer tournament, to be played in the United States. This one will cost Disney only the $3-4 million it spends on production costs. . . . ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS will devote 70 programs and 154 hours to the Super Bowl next week. . . . Fox Sports Net’s nightly news show, Fox Sports News, plus “The Last Word” and “Hardcore Football” will be done from San Diego, the Super Bowl city, next week.

TNT televises the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic today, with NBC handling the weekend coverage. The golf tournament marks the NBC debut of reporter Mark Rolfing, who came over from ABC. Rolfing will also be a part of today’s TNT coverage, which begins at 10 a.m. Turner Broadcasting’s newest Hall of Famer, Don Sutton, is playing as an amateur. His tee time today is 10:40. . . . “Page One With Nick Charles” makes its debut on CNN Saturday with Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.

TBS will experiment with a “cap cam” at Saturday’s Senior Bowl football game. It will be worn by the umpire in the middle of the field. “We should get some pretty good looks of the backs coming right at you,” director Larry Kamm said. . . . The NHL All-Star game will be on Fox Sunday at 1 p.m. . . . For the NHL SuperSkills competition Saturday at 6 p.m., ESPN will have Buffalo goaltender Dominik Hasek wearing a “mask cam.” . . . Fox Sports West, for the first time, will have a camera in the locker room between periods when the Kings play Calgary next Tuesday.

As Chick Hearn heads toward his 3,000th consecutive Laker game Monday, Fox Sports West will devote the full half-hour of “Lakers Live” to Hearn on Saturday night before the Lakers’ game against Miami. Meanwhile, Channel 9 is doing only a halftime recap next Wednesday night when the Lakers play at Phoenix. Hearn certainly deserves more than that from the Lakers’ longtime flagship TV station.

IN CLOSING

What has made the NFL worth $17.6 billion to television is television itself. Where would NFL football be without television? The sport is ideally suited for TV. The other entity most responsible for the NFL’s popularity is NFL Films, which has been superbly capturing the game’s drama since 1962.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Jan. 10-11:

SATURDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Figure Skating: U.S. Championships (prime time) 7 12.8 21 Figure Skating: U.S. Championships (afternoon) 7 6.9 14 Figure Skating: Stars on Ice 2 3.7 9 Golf: Mercedes Championships 7 3.7 9 College Basketball: St. John’s at Georgetown 2 2.3 6 College Basketball: Louisville at Syracuse 2 1.7 6 College Basketball: Kansas at Texas 2 1.7 2

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SUNDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share NFC championship: Green Bay at San Francisco 11 27.5 53 AFC championship: Denver at Pittsburgh 4 26.9 56 Figure Skating: Canadian Pro Championships 2 3.2 6 Golf: Mercedes Championships 7 2.2 4

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