SPORTS WEEKEND : TV/Radio : Unusual CBS Humanitarian Move Fails

Title sponsors for college bowl games have become a way of life. The bowl lineup includes the Jeep Oahu Bowl, the Sylvania Alamo Bowl, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the Insight.com Bowl, the AXA/Equitable Liberty Bowl, the Culligan Holiday Bowl.

So why not The Late, Late Show With Craig Kilborn Humanitarian Bowl?

It almost happened.

The folks at the Kilborn show have a rather unusual sense of humor. So while thinking of different ways to promote the show, someone suggested sponsoring a college bowl game. A TV show has never been a title sponsor for a bowl game, but why not?

So in February, a month before the show made its late-night debut on CBS, Michael Naidus, in charge of publicity and marketing for the show, called Steve Schmader, president of the Humanitarian Bowl, and pitched the idea.

The 3-year-old Humanitarian Bowl, held in Boise, Idaho, was looking for a title sponsor, and Schmader liked the idea. Not only would it in bring in some money--the initial talks involved a three-year deal for nearly $1 million--the exposure on a network television show would be invaluable.

One problem, though. ESPN televises the game on ESPN2, and the other day Schmader and the Kilborn people got the word that ESPN had nixed the idea.

“Going in, we knew that could be a problem,” Schmader said. “ESPN has been great to us and we wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that relationship.”

Mitch Semel, vice president of late-night television for CBS, said, “We were hoping someone would have a sense of humor and not see it as direct competition.”

An ESPN spokesman said it is written in all contracts with bowl games that the network has approval over any title sponsor, and ESPN does not approve of title sponsors who are competitors.

Asked if the fact the Kilborn used to work at ESPN was a factor, Schmader said, “That was never stated.”

Said Kilborn, “Unlike Keith Olbermann, my experience at ESPN was not miserable and I’ve never said anything bad about ESPN.”

Kilborn producer Billy Kimball, tongue in cheek, said, “What ESPN did was contrary to the entire spirit of the Humanitarian Bowl. But in the humanitarian spirit, we are not going to take anyone to task. We’ll move on. Maybe they’ll let us sponsor a first-down marker. I hope they’ll at least let us watch the game.”

RYDER CUP COVERAGE

How much has the Ryder Cup grown as a television event? Well, 10 years ago, when the event was held at the Belfry in Sutton Coldfield, England, all three rounds were only on USA cable. And there were only nine hours of coverage, total.

Now, there will be 10 1/2 hours of coverage on the USA network today and 16 1/2 more on NBC Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday’s 10 hours of coverage on NBC begin at 5 a.m., early even for golfers. But live is still better than delayed. USA’s coverage today is delayed three hours on the West Coast until 7:30 a.m., although it is live at 4:30 on satellite systems. Sunday’s 6 1/2 hours of coverage on NBC will be live, beginning at 7:30.

The Golf Channel has been providing extensive supplemental Ryder Cup coverage all week, but to correct a recent item in this space, Ben Wright is not one of the Golf Channel’s on-air commentators. Wright only did a few pre-taped vignettes. . . . Longtime golf announcer Charlie Jones will be part of the Ryder Cup coverage--for British radio.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

It has been a while since a UCLA football game was not televised live, but because ABC has an exclusive three-hour window, 12:30-3:30 p.m., in which no competing Pacific 10 telecast is permitted, the 2 p.m. UCLA-Stanford game won’t be shown by Fox Sports West 2 until 3:30 Saturday. Stanford declined to change the start time just for L.A. television. Also, Stanford Stadium does not have lights. . . . The game will be live on KXTA (1150), with pregame coverage beginning at 11:30 a.m. . . . ABC’s Pac-10 game is Colorado at Washington, with Keith Jackson working with Dan Fouts instead of regular partner Bob Griese because ABC is now rotating its announcing teams.

SHORT WAVES

The NBA will launch its own 24-hour television channel, NBA.com TV, on Nov. 2. It will be available on digital cable systems and DirecTV. . . . Chris Myers had reconstructive knee surgery on Monday but will be on the job Sunday morning as host of Fox Sports Net’s “NFL This Morning.” Said Myers: “Now I know what these athletes go through. It’s not fun.” . . . Martina Navratilova, profiled tonight at 7:30 on ESPN as the 19th greatest North American athlete of the 20th century, is the highest-ranked tennis player by the ESPN panel.

HBO will show a replay of the Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad fight Saturday at 6:45 p.m., followed by a live fight that should have more action--”Sugar” Shane Mosley against Wilfredo Rivera from Temecula. . . . Guaranteed to have more action than De La Hoya- Trinidad is the taped “Toughman” show on FX tonight at 10. This show from Bay City, Mich., marks the 20th anniversary of Toughman and the first of 10 consecutive weeks of new Toughman shows on FX. . . . Trinidad will be interviewed during Showtime’s live boxing show from Washington tonight at 8. . . . The 407th and last fight night at the Great Western Forum will be televised by Fox Sports West at 8 p.m. Monday.

Chick Hearn will receive the Jim Murray Caritas Award at a fund-raising dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel next Thursday night. Al Michaels will be the master of ceremonies and Roy Firestone will provide the entertainment for the event that benefits the Richstone Family Center in Hawthorne, an out-patient agency for abused children. Details: (310) 970-1921. . . Fox Sports Net is co-sponsoring a sports-night benefit for the Starlight Children’s Foundation Wednesday night at the House of Blues in Hollywood. Details: (310) 286-0271.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for Sept. 18-19, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share College football: Tennessee vs. Florida 2 4.5 10 College football: San Diego State at USC 7 4.1 11 College football: Michigan State at Notre Dame 4 4.7 10 College football: Penn State at Miami 2 2.8 7 Baseball: Kansas City at Oakland 11 1.0 3

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Cable Network Rating Share College football: Fresno State at UCLA FSW2 2.0 4 College football: Air Force at Washington FSW 1.1 3 College football: Kentucky at Indiana ESPN 0.9 3 College football: Stanford at Arizona FSW 0.9 2 College football: Boise State at Hawaii FSW2 0.6 2 Golf: B.C. Open ESPN 0.6 2 College football: Baylor at Oklahoma FSW2 0.4 1 College football: Auburn at Louisiana State ESPN 0.4 1 Golf: Senior Bank One Championship ESPN 0.4 1 Tennis: Fed Cup, U.S. vs. Russia ESPN2 0.4 1 Baseball: Philadelphia at New York Mets FX 0.3 1 College football: West Virginia at Maryland ESPN2 0.3 1 College football: Wisconsin at Cincinnati FSW 0.3 1

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SUNDAY

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Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro football: Oakland at Minnesota 2 11.1 29 Pro football: Denver at Kansas City 2 8.6 20 Pro football: New Orleans at San Francisco 11 7.8 18 Horse racing: Woodward, Matron, Futurity stakes 4 1.8 5 Baseball: Dodgers at Colorado 5 1.6 4 Track and field: IAAF Grand Prix Final 4 1.6 4 Auto racing: Petit LeMans 4 1.5 4

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Cable Network Rating Share Pro football: New York Jets at Buffalo ESPN 7.7 14 Golf: Senior Bank One Championship ESPN 1.4 3 Auto racing: NASCAR DuraLube/Kmart 300 TNN 1.0 3 Horse racing: Woodbine Mile, Ruffian ‘Cap ESPN2 1.0 2 Drag racing: NHRA Keystone Nationals FSW 0.8 2 Golf: B.C. Open ESPN 0.7 2 Endurance: Ironman Triathlon ESPN 0.7 2 Tennis: Fed Cup, U.S. vs. Russia ESPN 0.7 2 Boxing: Wayne McCullough vs. Len Martinez FSW 0.7 1

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WEEKDAY RATINGS: MONDAY--Pro football, Ch. 7, Dallas-Atlanta, Ch. 7, 11.8/19.

Note: Each rating point represents 51,350 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.