TV deal couldn’t be pulled off

Tim Graham

Thursday, March 11, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

For the first time all season, the UNLV men's basketball program played a road game that wasn't televised in Las Vegas.

UNLV's 68-55 loss to Nebraska in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament Wednesday night could not be carried locally because the university couldn't pull it off. The Rebels didn't even know who they were playing or where until Sunday night.

"We want our fans to be spoiled, and it's a good game to televise," UNLV broadcast manager Tony Cordasco said. "But we just couldn't piece it together at the last minute."

Because of the remoteness of the Lincoln, Neb., campus, UNLV would have needed to draw much of its broadcast personnel from Omaha, which is an hour away. Satellite time and trucks also would have been costly.

Picking up a feed out of the Devaney Center also was impossible. The game wasn't televised in Nebraska, either.

"When we played in the NIT the last time (in 1997), ESPN picked up the games," Cordasco said. "Unfortunately, ESPN didn't do that this year and the expense for us to do it ourselves was too high."

The only way to follow the game Wednesday night was by listening to KXNT 840-AM.

KFBT Channel 33, the television home of the Rebels, was prepared to air the game and had cleared space from its schedule for a 5 p.m. start, bumping shows such as "Roseanne," "Jenny Jones" and "Maury."

"As far as our part, we were in," KFBT general manager Mark Higgins said. "We actually offered to acquiesce and air the game for the benefit of the community without any compensation -- no charge.

"We weren't even looking at it from a ratings vs. revenue standpoint. We were thinking it was more convenient for the community to see the team.

"We were happy to accommodate UNLV if they were able to pool their resources in a timely manner. But they could not."