The NCAA News

December 5, 1994 The NCAA News Page 7
Contracts
NCAA agrees to $1.725 billion deal with CBS; also announces new contract with ESPN
) Continued from page 1
football; Division I men’s and women’s
swimming, tennis and volleyball;
Division I men’s ice hockey,
lacrosse and wrestling; Division I
softball; Division II football;
Division II women’s basketball; and
Division III football.
Coverage of the 199495 Division
I Women’s Basketball Championship
will be the same as in recent
years, with the Women’s Final Four
on CBS (April 1 and Z), the regional
finals on ESPN and the regional
semifinals on F’rime Sports Network
@
Beginning in 1995-96, however,
ESPN will have exclusive rights to
that championship, featuring 23
games on ESPN or ESPNS.
At that time, the semifinal and
final games will be moved to a FridaySunday
format, adding a day of
rest that currently is not available.
“We had two priorities for the
women’s basketball championship:
a day of rest between the semifinals
and the final, and live coverage of
earlier rounds,” Dempsey said.
“FSPN will help us do both, starting
in 1996.”
“The women’s tournament has
grown in popularity, and we want to
give fans a chance to see more
games. With the move to ESPN, fans
will be able to see their favorite
teams through more of the tournament,”
Bnmo said.
The increased revenue from the
CBS contract comes at a critical
A A
PREVIOUS CONTRACT Ivalurhrm)
$1 .O billion; 7 years (1990-91 through 1996-97)
NW CONTRACT Ivaiue/term\
$1.725 billion; 8 years (1994-95 through 2001-02)
AVERAGE ANNUAL PAYMENT
Previous contact - $143 million New contract - $2 15 .6 million
n CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERED BY CBS
Previous contract:
I Men’s Basketboll (011 games)
I Baseball (2 games)
II Men’s Basketball (1 game)
I Women’s Basketball* (3 games)
I-AA Football (1 game)
Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics
I Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track
I Men’s lacrosse (1 game)
I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track
I Men’s Volleyball (1 game)
0
New contract:
Division I Men’s Basketball (all games)
I Baseball (2 games)
I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track
Women’s Gymnastics
II Men’s Basketball (1 game)
l Women’s Final Four on CBS in 1994-95; Division I Women’s Basketball Championship moves to ESPN 1995-96
through 1997-98 (with four option yeors following)
n CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERED BY ESPN
New contract:
I Women’s Basketball (20-23 games)7
I Men’s and Women’s Swimming
I Wrestling
I Men’s Lacrosse
I-AA Football
I Men’s ond Women’s Tennis
t Beginning in 1995-96
time. According to a recent NCAA
study, the average NCAA Division about $1.4 million and $1.1 million, Association.
I-A athletics program posted a net respectively.
loss of $174,000 in 1993 if financial “Our challenge is to use these
support from its college or univer- Dempsey stressed that the distri- resources prudently and in the best
sity was not counted. In Division bution of the additional revenue will interests of student-athletes,” he
I-& and I-AAA, the deficits were be carefully considered by the said.
Victory splash
Stanford University h.ead
men9s mater polo coach
Dante Dettamanti en-
joyed a wet victory cele-
bration when his @ayers
tossed him into the pool
after the Cardinal’s 14-
10 victoy over the Uni-
versity of Southern Cali-
fornia in the National
Collegiate Men’s Water
Polo Championship No-
vember 2 7.
Smith to emcee honors dinner
Harry Smith, CBS News corre- 1991. He also Winter Olympic Games in
spondent and coanchor of “CBS has originat- Lillehammer, Norway.
This Morning,” will serve as master
of ceremonies at the 1995
NCAA honors dinner.
The dinner will be January 8 at
the 89th annual NCAA Convention
in San Diego.
Smith has served as coanchor
of “CBS This Morning” since the
program premiered November
30, 1987. He has covered stories
from around the world, including
one month of live broadcasts
ed “CBS This
Morning”
broadcasts
from Japan,
Poland,
Hungary,
Cuba,
France, Italy,
Egypt, Israel, Smith
Jordan,
England, Russia and Spain.
In February, 1994, Smith served
Smith’s domestic assignments
have included covering the San
Francisco earthquake in 1989,
Hurricane Hugo, the Reagan/(;orbachev
summit in Washington,
and the 1988 and 1992
Republican and Democratic
National Conventions. Most
recently, Smith covered the collapse
of the Bosnian homeland
and the floods along the Misfrom
Saudi Arabia during the as the cohost of CBS’s weekday
height of the Persian Gulf war in morning coverage of the 1994 See Smith, page 16 b
I Men’s and Women’s Volleyball
I Women’s Softball
II Women’s Basketball
II Football
Ill Football
I Men’s Ice Hockey
After the last NCAA-CBS contract
was signed in 1989, the NCAA
formed the Special Advisory Com-
mittee to Review Recommendations
Regarding Distribution of Revenue.
That committee, currently chaired
by former NCAA President Judith
M. Sweet, developed a formula that
deemphasized the importance of
winning a particular NCAA touma-
ment game (payouts are based on a
conference’s performance over a
six-year period) and rewarded pro-
grams sponsoring many sports and
providing large numbers of athlet-
ics grants-in-aid. Money also was
provided for a special-assistance
fund for student-athletes with unmet
financial needs and for academic
enhancement ($30,000 for each
Division I member).
This year, the NCAA is distribut-
ing slightly more than $81 million
to its membership through the rev-
enue-distribution plan.
Other programs that were fund-
ed through the last contract were
catastrophic-injury hISUmrICe for all
287,000 NCAA student-athletes, an
expansion of the championships
program in all three divisions and
a Division II enhancement fund.
The Executive Committee will
review the Association’s member-
ship trust as a result of the new con-
tract. The trust was created to pro-
vide funding for existing
Association programs and services
in case a decline in future televi-
sion rights fees caused a funding
shortfall.
The Executive Committee agreed
IO set aside any revenue from CBS
exceeding the average payout over
the seven-year contract ($143 mil-
lion). Currently, the NCAA has $8.9
million in the trust
The distribution of that money
will be discussed by the Executive
Committee since the purpose of the
trust no longer exists.
Restricted-earnings
court motions heard
Motions for summary,judgment
by both sides in a lawsuit concem-
ing Division I basketball restricted-
earnings coaches were heard
November 30 by the U.S. District
Court for the District of Kansas.
It is not known when the court
will act on the motions.
Five then-restricted-earnings
coaches filed the class-action suit,
alleging violations of Federal
antitrust law as a result of the appli-
cation of NC& Bylaw 11.02.3. The
suit was filed originally in No-
vember 1993 in the U.S. District
Court for the Central District of
California and was moved to the
Kansas court at the request of the
NCAA.
The plaintiffs, on behalf of all
restricted-earnings coaches in
Division I men’s basketball, claim
that the NCAA rule prevents
Division I member institutions
from freely negotiating with them
for compensation for their services.
On November 30, the court
heard separate motions by the
coaches and by the NCAA seeking
summaryjudgment on the issue of
liability. Once those motions have
been decided, the court will deter-
mine whether it is necessav to pro-
ceed with other aspects of the case.
A finding in favor of the NCAA
on the summary judgment motion
would eliminate the need for fur-
ther action by the tri,al court. A deci-
sion in favor of the plaintiffs on the
question of liability would set the
stage for further determinations,
including a trial on the question of
damages.
Damages can be significant be-
cause any actual damages found
are tripled under Federal antitrust
law. The amount could be corn-
pounded further if the plainriffs are
found to properly represent the
class of all Division I men’s bas-
ketball restricted-earnings coach-
es.
In addition to this matter, anoth-
er lawsuit has been filed in the
same court by a men’s lacrosse re-
sbictedeamings coach. That coach
makes similar claims on behalf of
all restricted-earnings coaches in
Division I in sports other than
men’s basketball.
The status of each of these cas-
es was reviewed by the NCAA
Administrative Committee at a
December 5 meeting in conjunc-
tion with the Executive Committee’s
regular December meeting. The
committee noted the importance
of closely monitoring the progress
of the cases because of the signifi-
cant potential damages if the Asso-
ciation does not prevail and the
need to keep the membership
informed of future developments.