Columnist Tim Graham: Teams ‘share’ Vegas; baseball fans benefit

Tim Graham

Wednesday, April 7, 1999 | 10:05 a.m.

Tim Graham's media notebook appears Wednesday. His page 1 column appears Thursday. Reach him at 259-4078 or tim@lasvegassun.com.

As outlined in this space last Wednesday, there is an abundance of baseball riding the Southern Nevada airwaves.

There have been multiple options for years when it comes to radio broadcasts. A multitude of teams -- the Cincinnati Reds? -- have been heard here recently.

But a unique situation has developed in the Las Vegas market in regard to baseball television rights. And the anomaly is highly beneficial.

Major League Baseball -- as does the NBA and NHL -- declares each media market's TV rights the property of the franchise in the closest market, or in the case of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and the Bay Area, the property of two franchises.

For example, if a station or cable company in Salt Lake City wanted to purchase an MLB package, it would have to be from the Colorado Rockies and no one else. These boundaries are set up so teams can't compete against each other for revenues.

The Atlanta Braves (TBS), Chicago Cubs (WGN) and New York Mets (WWOR) are considered exceptions to this rule because they are televised on cable "superstations."

But MLB never affiliated Southern Nevada to any one market. That's why six teams claim our market this year.

It's a baseball free-for-all.

"Las Vegas is a shared territory," explained Fox Sports West director of public relations Steve Webster. "Major League Baseball has never designated that market for one team or another."

KFBT Channel 33 airs an Arizona Diamondbacks package. Fox Sports West offers the Anaheim Angels. Cox Cable Channel 48 shows 105 San Diego Padres games this year.

Although Fox Sports West 2 and Fox Sports Bay Area are not on the Cox menu, the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's still can be seen on those networks via satellite. All other MLB games on regional networks get blacked out.

"It's pretty much open to all the teams in this area: the Dodgers, Angels, Diamondbacks, Padres, Giants and A's," Webster said. "So all those teams are all free to come into Las Vegas."

In a related note, local Telemundo affiliate KBLR Channel 39 has scrapped its Diamondbacks package this year. The station aired broadcasts in Spanish last year, but has opted to scale back its sports coverage, which is now limited to Mexican and European soccer.

* TRACKING VIEWERS: The Las Vegas 400 tore up local ratings. The March 7 NASCAR race averaged a 13.0 rating and a 26 share for ABC affiliate KTNV Channel 13, according to Southern Nevada meters.

When Jeff Burton crossed the finish line, the rating was a 17.3 and the share was a 35.

"Those are 'Monday Night Football'-like numbers," KTNV sports director Ron Futrell said. "And with that 35 at the end of the race, I can't recall that percentage of the people watching any sporting event."

The race registered a 6.0 rating and 15 share nationally.

* DISCOVER PAIN: It's not often the Discovery Channel gets mentioned in this column. But the cerebral cable network is showing its fourth annual Eco-Challenge, a riveting, grueling, 315-mile, nonstop exhibition race.

Teams of four are taken to the brink of mental and physical exhaustion as they traverse the harsh terrain of Morocco through camelback riding, coasteering, kayaking, driving, hiking, rappeling, horseback riding and finally mountain biking.

The two-part program, narrated by actor Liam Neeson, begins Sunday at 9 p.m. and concludes Monday at 9 p.m.

* STATIC: Luke Smith, the former UNLV tennis player who won a pair of NCAA tennis championships two years ago, has become an international spokesman for K-Swiss shoes. TV commercials, in which Smith speaks of being on top and then plummeting to the bottom after turning pro, were filmed at the Fertitta Tennis Complex. ... ESPN announced its "Sunday Night Football" schedule and the opening regular-season game is a doozy. One of the biggest rivalries will be revived Sept. 12, when the Pittsburgh Steelers visit the Cleveland Browns. The schedule also includes four preseason games starting Aug. 13.