Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 10:19 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
There was more bad news for the UNLV football team this week. But much to the chagrin of Rebels fans who have been e-mailing and calling about the quarterback situation, it had nothing to do with Kurt Nantkes being cleared to play against Air Force Saturday night (although he won't start).
It was that Cox Cable decided to lift the local blackout on the Bernard Hopkins-Oscar De La Hoya boxing blockbuster at the MGM Grand, meaning that many local fans have two views to consider before deciding which one to pay per.
It's not the first time that has happened in our self-absorbed city, as when it comes to scheduling live sports, the left hand rarely knows what the right is doing.
In the past, UNLV has pretty much been at the mercy of its broadcast partners when it comes to scheduling because that is what happens when you take the money and run, as the Mountain West did a few years back.
It also explains why the Rebels have been giving away the precious resource of home game revenue, as the Air Force game will be the first home contest in two years that hasn't been televised locally. That you can watch home games on live TV from the comfort of your own living room has been great for UNLV fans too lazy to haul their backsides off the sofa, but it hasn't done much for season-ticket sales.
But this week the tables have been turned on UNLV football fans, at least the ones who had planned to host a party to offset the $54.95 Bob Arum is charging for what should prove to be a record-setting pay-per-view boxing extravaganza, at least for a non-heavyweight bout.
With TV out of the equation, UNLV basically could have kicked off at any time it saw fit. But it saw fit at 7:05 p.m., which is roughly the same time Hopkins and De La Hoya will be taping their fists across town.
With the fight telecast available in every corner of the United States (although reception could be a little sketchy on the Gulf Coast) as well as Puerto Rico, Australia, Malaysia and Mexico, the couple of thousand fans in Las Vegas who may choose to go to the football game instead won't amount to a drop in the spit bucket.
But if a few thousand fans in Las Vegas decide to watch the fight on TV rather than the Rebels in person, it will be noticeable at Sam Boyd Stadium, where sellouts are more rare than a flanker reverse.
Rest assured there won't be a full house Saturday night. Or next Saturday night, when the Rebels will be going up against the NASCAR Craftsman Trucks/ Champ Car Series doubleheader at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick said he didn't think moving the Air Force game to the afternoon was such a hot idea, because it literally would have resulted in one. He said Arizona State turned down $240,000 from Fox SportsNet to move its game against No. 16 Iowa to Saturday afternoon because the weather is too warm, as he believes will be the case here.
With 340-pound offensive tackles dropping like monorail wheels these days, you can understand the logic. But I guess safety wasn't a concern in 2001 (before Hamrick) when UNLV was told by ESPN to kick off its home opener against Northwestern on a blistering late Friday afternoon.
As I recall, the heat was hot, the ground was dry and the air was full of sound (or was it just boos for UNLV quarterback Json Thomas?). But even those who had never been to the desert on a horse with no name managed to survive.
By the way, as I am writing this, it's 11:05 a.m. (the time I believe the Rebels and Falcons should tee it up) and the temperature outside is 83 degrees. Saturday's forecast is calling for a high of 90.
But Hamrick said he doesn't like morning games, and that a city of 1.7 million potential ticket buyers is fully capable of supporting a college football game and a major prizefight on the same night. Based on the number of sellouts the Rebels have had when Wisconsin isn't the opposition, I'm not so sure I agree.
But anybody who doesn't believe there are UNLV football fans who also enjoy a good fight hasn't read my e-mail this week. Or sat in the end zone at the Nevada-Reno game.
Officials at Cox Cable said they weren't at liberty to discuss the number of local households that have bought the fight but that Las Vegas has always been a big pay-per-view town.
And this, as noted, is a big pay-per-view fight.
But Hamrick said he doesn't expect Hopkins and De La Hoya to blitz the Rebels at the turnstiles. That may be because he comes from the South and East, where college football is king and has first dibs on starting times.
In places such as Knoxville and Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge and even Greenville, N.C., where Hamrick was AD at East Carolina, they don't adjust starting times for anybody that isn't named ABC. And they don't give away football season tickets to anybody who purchases a big-screen TV, as an appliance dealer was doing here a couple of weeks ago.
What's ironic is that those who bought the big screens and got the free football tickets are now faced with the dilemma of which one to use.
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