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Bucs-Rams expected to lift slumping MNF

By SHARON GINN

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 15, 2000

Bucs and Rams fans aren't the only ones looking forward to the Monday Night Football showdown between the Super Bowl champions and the NFC runners-up.

After two weeks of snoozers and a season that has seen average ratings dip lower than ever, ABC could use a bit of a boost for a show that simply isn't the event it used to be.

Of course, nothing in sports is: The Olympics in September garnered its worst-ever ratings, and World Series ratings were significantly lower than a year ago. But the addition of comedian Dennis Miller and an unusually favorable schedule -- most games have been excellent and several have been outstanding -- haven't generated even a bounce for MNF, much less a boost.

The games are averaging a 12.6 rating, meaning Nielsen estimates 12.9-million households tune in each week on average, and a 21 share, or percentage of viewers who have their sets turned on at that time. That's a 9 percent decline from last season's average and on pace for an all-time low. The Patriots-Chiefs game Dec. 4 earned a 9.9, the second-lowest rating in the 31-year history of Monday Night Football.

ABC vice president Mark Mandel said the network was prepared for the drop. Two games were during the Olympics, which despite lower ratings still dominated TV viewing for two weeks, and the season opener fell on Labor Day, generally a tough night to attract viewers.

"I think it's difficult to draw any conclusions from this year's numbers because it was such an odd circumstance," Mandel said.

"No one likes to see numbers going down. You want to make sure we don't lose any more audience as an industry. All you can do as an individual show is beat your competition."

MNF still is doing that. It is the No. 6-rated show overall and is No. 1 with what Mandel said is the advertisers' key demographic: men 18-49.

But it's a fair guess that producer Don Ohlmeyer -- who was unavailable for comment -- is disappointed. Ohlmeyer, who helped make MNF No. 1 in the 1970s, came out of retirement this season to give the show an overhaul.

OUT OF THEIR LEAGUE: When a New York Times story revealed the Texas Rangers' deal with Fox Sports Southwest enabled them to sign Alex Rodriguez for a record $252-million, Sunshine Network general manager Jim Liberatore couldn't help but gape.

Not just at Rodriguez's contract, but at the idea that a regional network could pay two teams (the Rangers and the Dallas Stars) a reported $41.6-million a year for broadcast rights.

"That's really, really painful to even read," said Liberatore, pointing out that while ticket prices, salaries and rights fees are rising, "ratings and attendance seem to be dropping. That's a very concerning trend."

Fox Sports Southwest had no competition, but the owner of the two teams, Tom Hicks, had threatened to start his own cable network. In Florida there is competition, and sometimes bidding wars, between Sunshine and Fox Sports Net Florida. This year Sunshine outbid Fox Sports Net for an eight-year deal with the Lightning that Liberatore said likely is among the NHL's six richest. (Neither network releases how much it pays for broadcast rights, but the Times has reported the figure as $6.5-million a year.)

Even when deals like the Rangers' become public, Fox Sports Net Florida general manager Jeff Genthner said he doesn't see owners across the country automatically expecting more money.

"We know what the market will bear, in terms of what kind of rates we can charge cable operators," Genthner said. "We know what the ad market is in Florida versus other major regions. We know what we can pay. If a team came to us and said, "Hey, we want to land the Michael Jordan of our sport.' ... We can only do so much."

NOT-SO-DELIGHTFULLY TACKY: First the station brought you the ad with the words, "Fake left, fake right" plastered over a bikini-clad woman's chest. Now it's giving away one of each. WDAE-AM says it will donate a free breast augmentation for the holidays; "contestants" tell their stories during Steve Duemig's show and listeners vote on the finalists. For more than a week, Duemig has spent from 4-5 p.m. asking women their height, weight and breast size.

The ad, at least, referred indirectly to sports. This doesn't. Duemig should spend the time on something relevant -- like, say, the Bucs' biggest game of the year -- and leave the titillation (preferably during school hours) to fellow Clear Channel hosts MJ and BJ.

FINE TUNING: St. Petersburg boxer Ronald "Winky" Wright (40-3, 24 KOs) will fight Keith Mullings (16-6-1, 11 KOs) Saturday in a junior middleweight bout at 5 p.m. on HBO. ... ESPN's Outside the Lines presents "Inside the Deal," a look at how Manny Ramirez's eight-year, $160-million contract with the Red Sox evolved. Cameras followed agent Jeff Moorad during negotiations. The show airs at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. ... Fox NFL Sunday will broadcast Saturday and Sunday from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean Sea.

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