Sportscaster’s prediction was on the money

He made it 58 years ago

Good morning, all. I hope your week is off to a great start.

Talk about a prediction made by a sportscaster that came true, how about this one? As I was delving through the NY Daily News archives the other day - something I like to do, as the News was one of my favorite papers back in the day (It is no longer, by the way.) - I came across this piece written by TV critic Kay Gardella. She quoted renowned sportscaster Chris Schenkel, who at the time had just jumped from CBS to ABC, but was hoping to still be the broadcaster for New York Giants football games, whose rights were held by CBS.

Gardella wrote: “Unlike many of us, Schenkel’s convinced the day is near when sports events will be carried in prime TV time. ‘The cost to sponsors is so high,’ he reasons, ‘the networks will be forced to provide them with time periods which guarantee the maximum viewing audience.’”

Schenkel’s comments appeared in the Nov. 26, 1964 NY Daily News. At the time, CBS had paid the NFL $28,200,000 to carry its games for two seasons. By 1970, ABC was televising the NFL in prime time, as predicted by Schenkel, and the networks have never looked back.

The AFL-NFL wars
It’s amazing what you discover, rifling through old clippings, but back in ‘64, the NFL and rival AFL were at war. Peace was still years away. Meanwhile, the NFL was preparing for its draft of college players. That’s right, they were going to stage the draft the Saturday after Thanksgiving, while their season was still in progress. It was held on that date because it was the last day of the regular college football season.

Today, of course, the draft itself is a big deal, carried in prime time on several networks over two nights, but back then CBS was going to pop in on the event - held in a New York hotel - and provide one hour of coverage.

But it gets better. While the NFL was supposedly out in the open with its draft, the AFL held a secret, pre-Thanksgiving Day draft of the same college football pool, trying to beat the NFL to the punch and sign some of the top college football players, even before the NFL teams had the chance to make their picks. The AFL denied the secret draft but accused the NFL of sequestering the top players in the draft in a hotel and out of phone contact, until the Saturday of the draft. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle claimed no knowledge of such action.

In 1964, the war was in full throttle between the two leagues and secret drafts were a part of the scenario. The upstart AFL showed no signs of withering away, as other leagues in previous years had done, when attempting to challenge the established NFL. By 1965, the AFL made the ultimate statement, landing a quarterback from Alabama named Joe Namath. The rest is history.

Fun two weeks for baseball
Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, the next two weeks should be fun for baseball fans. There are many top-notch free agents to be had with Aaron Judge leading the field. The winter meetings are scheduled for next week, meaning signings and trades should rule the day.

Already, the reigning World Champion Houston Astros have signed free agent first baseman and former AL MVP Jose Abreu to a three-year deal, and the Chicago White Sox - who let Abreu walk - have inked free agent pitcher Mike Clevinger.

The makeup of several clubs could change in the next 14 days. Stoke up the hot stove.

ROI eyed
I hope to write more about this over the next couple weeks, but I believe the sports landscape, from how sports is covered to the make up of college and pro sports, is about to undergo seismic changes. It is all about return on investment or ROI.

The college basketball season is in full swing now, and all I see are empty seats. I’m not talking about Division III games here. Sunday night, the UConn men’s basketball team, now ranked 8th in the nation, battled Iowa St. in the championship game of the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, OR. (UConn won, incidentally.) But all I saw were a lot of people disguised as empty seats.

The University of Massachusetts women’s basketball team, undergoing a dramatic revival, went down to Miami over the Thanksgiving weekend and won the tournament in which it competed. Again, many empty seats. This paradigm cannot continue, regardless of the revenue stream keeping the current system afloat, i.e. television revenue.

The blueprint for college sports is outdated. The landscape is about to change, as the bean counters examine the return on investment. Now if only Chris Schenkel was around to offer his opinion.

That is going to be it for this edition of the newsletter. As always, thank you for your support and have a terrific week.

SPORTSCASTER DAN