Q&A; Regarding TV Deal

In the aftermath of the week’s mammoth NFL broadcasting-rights package, it’s hard to tell the winners from the losers.

Executives at CBS, ABC, ESPN and Fox will tell you they won because their networks are still in the business of televising professional football, by far the most coveted sports programming.

“You’d bet on the NFL,” CBS Sports president Sean McManus said. “You know year-in and year-out the Super Bowl is going to be one of the highest-rated programs of the year.”

McManus said his network’s $500-million-per-year bid for the AFC rights was a responsible move and wouldn’t cause the network to lose money.

Bosses at NBC and Turner Sports will tell you they won because the networks that bought into the eight-year, $18 billion deal are going to drown in red ink.

“We see it as a reckless situation,” said Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports. “We see the losses in a good economy going forward to $150 million to $200 million a year” for each network.

Ebersol said he could understand why ABC paid $550 million a year to keep “Monday Night Football.” The loss of the network’s top prime-time program would likely have dropped it to fourth in the race between the four over-the-air networks.

Fox paid $550 million a year for the NFC rights, and ESPN paid $600 million a year for exclusive Sunday night rights.

Questions about this blockbuster deal go further than winners and losers. The answers to those questions, based on interviews with executives from the four major networks, ESPN and Turner Sports, as well as other insiders in the television industry, are as follows:

Question: NBC said it was unwilling to buy football at an inflated price. If that’s the case, why was NBC willing to pay $13 million an episode for “ER?” Answer: The network is already losing the very popular sitcom “Seinfeld” after this season. Losing “ER,” the Peacock’s top-rated show, would have been as devastating to NBC as losing “Monday Night Football” would have been to ABC.” Besides, NBC suddenly had extra money to spend.

Q: Why was CBS so eager to have the AFC, which is the least lucrative of the NFL programming properties? A: CBS overpaid for the prestige of having NFL programming, to build strength among affiliates and to obtain a platform from which to promote the network’s entertainment assets.

Q: Did any other network go after the NFC rights? If not, why not, seeing as those rights are more lucrative than the AFC’s? A: Would you go after anything that Fox wants? Remember what that network did to CBS?

Q: What will ESPN do with “Sunday Night Baseball” in September and October? A: ESPN wanted to have Sunday night football exclusively from its beginning seven years ago and anticipated that this prime-time baseball programming might have to be moved one day. The network was prepared and will move “Sunday Night Baseball” to ESPN2.

Q: Which of my favorite announcers are likely to get jobs? A: Phil Simms, Joe Gibbs, Randy Cross, Cris Collinsworth, Pat Haden and Mark May are the top candidates.

Q: Who’s likely to be out of a job? A: Dick Enberg, an NBC veteran, may be doing his last game on Jan. 25 when he calls Super Bowl XXXII.