DEAL: TAINT BY THE NUMBERS; NFL'S TV NEGOTIATIONS DIDN'T CONSIDER L.A.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

As long as we're throwing numbers around on the new NFL television contract like construction bids on the ``new'' Coliseum, here are a few others to put through the computer and help assess who are the biggest whiners and losers in this financial fiasco:

Zero: Los Angeles' impact on the negotiations.

And the chances of the city getting an NFL team, based on the fact the league can generate this kind of dough without an L.A. team, so why bother.

Said NBC Sports pooh-bah Dick Ebersol: ``The league carefully and consistently avoided telling the networks whether an L.A. team would be in the AFC or NFC. There are no guarantees for an L.A. team.''

(FYI: Ebersol also was amused about the fact that when the NFL gives Cleveland the next expansion team and it rejoins the AFC, CBS doesn't even have an affiliate in that city.)

Fox's Chase Carey, the network's chief operating officer, added: ``I don't think (the fact L.A. doesn't have an NFL team) factored in a big way. There are still too many issues with what's happening in L.A. From our position, it's a positive to have a team in L.A. But in this process, there are too many uncertainties and it didn't come into an account.''

Carey cares about L.A., of course. He'll probably be the figurehead when Fox officially assumes ownership of the Dodgers in the next few weeks.

50 cents: What some estimate your cable rates will increase based on ESPN having to pay for all the cable-TV rights, which were about a 130 percent jump over the TNT-ESPN package of years past.

Steve Bornstein, modest chief of ESPN (as well as ABC Sports), said the cable-rates boost will be ``modest.'' He also thinks the Empire State Building would make a neat fixer-upper townhouse.

$150-to-$200 million: What Ebersol says the other networks stand to lose each year because of the billions they've invested in the league.

Taking the stance of fiscal responsibility, Ebersol called the $17.6 billion that the other three networks have committed to the league ``reckless'' and ``foolhardy,'' comparing it to what CBS did when it overpaid for Major League Baseball 10 years ago (taking it from NBC) and then lost hundreds of millions when the economy turned on it. As a result, it had to fire countless employees.

Said Fox's Carey, trying not to sound too flip: ``Considering it's from the guy who's not in, I'm not surprised by the angle from which he's coming. An appropriate grain of salt should be taken with regards to his perspective.''

Added Bornstein: ``If we weren't successful in getting the package, we'd say the successful bidder paid too much, too.''

From ABC chief Bob Iger: ``The package makes sense to us. The only ones fully capable of determining if the price is justifiable is ourselves. I don't think those on the outside really can absolutely know.''

From CBS' Mel Karmizin: ``We know what it's like to have the NFL and we know what it's like not to have the NFL. It sure as hell is a lot better to have the NFL.''

From CBS Sports chief Sean McManus: ``We felt if we could have the NFL and make a dollar, we'd do it. We know in our numbers that we are going to make money.''

And from Fox Sports chief David Hill: ``The value of the deal isn't now or next year. As TV becomes more diversified and there are more choices for the consumer, the NFL is the only solid ground in a scary swamp.''

We give Ebersol the final word, and what he hopes is the last laugh:

``Go back and read all things said in '88 about the baseball deal when we questioned the magnitude of dollars. Obviously at this point, they're not going to say anything different. We're willing to go on record.

``Football is a terrific property, but there is irresponsibility. As businessmen, are we (at NBC) the winners? Absolutely. Particular when all these deals are figured on the prospects of the economy staying good. Someone will really pay the price down the road.''

$2 billion: What NBC paid last month to renew its contract with the NBA, which stands to lose Michael Jordan after this season.

$850 million: What NBC paid this week to hang on to ``ER,'' a top-rated prime-time show that's having an awful season on its own no matter how many scenes with George Clooney, whose character got married Thursday night for crying out loud.

10: The number of new episodes left from NBC's ``Seinfeld'' before it yadda-yadda-yaddas into nothing.

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WHAT SMOKES

An astute perception by O.J. Simpson during his live discussion with Chris Myers on ``Up Close'' Thursday that ``all the people in the media seem to be upset that I'm out.'' Not true. Myers is ecstatic you're out. That way, he could bring you in studio and draw attention to his deflating show. (You saw Myers tried to come hard, but that's just not his way, is it? Myers wasn't doing interviews with his brethren after the show.) Joe McDonnell, who had Simpson on his AM-1150 radio show last November but was reduced to doing a watered-down interview because of management restrictions, watched Thursday's TV show while trying not to grind his teeth. ``Man, I wish I had the chance to go at him like that, without any restrictions,'' said McDonnell.

Momentum building for Chick Hearn's 3,000th consecutive Lakers broadcast, which will be Monday at the Forum when the team faces Orlando. Fox Sports West plans a half-hour special during its Lakers pregame show (1 p.m.).

WHAT CHOKES

The new 5 p.m. starting time for ABC's ``Monday Night Football.'' In the East, network execs are throwing ticker-tape parades in celebration of the fact that the games start an hour earlier and won't go past midnight any longer, plus there's better prime-time hours to use for the network's No. 1 rated show. But to us NFL-less slobs out on the left-out coast, where it's enough trouble getting settled in for a 6 p.m. kickoff, this only means a decrease in the production level as office workers sneak out a bit earlier. Sources at KABC secretly complain that its daily newscast will absorb a hit because of this - it's an easy source for local advertising dollars. But our fear is the potential for an expanded ``Monday Night Live'' postgame show with Todd Donoho - maybe filled with O.J. interviews. Meanwhile at the network, which will now pay about $27 million per game, it also means Frank Gifford has to get into the makeup chair an hour earlier. He'll be arriving at the stadium at 5:30 a.m.

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