SO MUCH FOR SOCCER KICK; ATTEMPT TO DRAW FANS DIMS WITH U.S. DEPARTURE.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

It seems most important that ABC continues to get the word out about the new kickoff time for ``Monday Night Football'' during its coverage of World Cup '98.

At least it had its priorities straight as to what kind of football whets the Americans' TV appetite.

As France bids adieu to those Losing Ugly Americans who capsized quickly in pool play, with them likely goes any further interest in the rest of the tournament by the casual U.S. television sports audience.

Which is like saying the Mojave Desert will go another day without rain.

The WNBA has been getting better ratings than World Cup coverage the last two weeks. The Disney three-headed monster (ABC, ESPN and ESPN2), which paid twice as much ($25 million) for the U.S. broadcasting rights in '98 than it did in '94, is seeing half the viewing audience from four years ago when the circus came to the U.S. mainland. Spanish-language Univision is averaging about 170,000 more households per day than ESPN during the regular midweek games.

Whatever that all means, they're just the facts, ma'am. Whether this action/suspense series has been better or the story lines more glamorous, what plays loudest to the TV comb-overs is the two numbers separated by a decimal point, provided by people with little boxes on the back of their sets.

Completely opposite to New York-stuck studio cohort Brent Musburger, ABC's World Cup play-by-play man Bob Ley can hardly be accused of catching the infectious media homerism during the tournament. That's both a blessing and a curse.

Mr. ``Outside the Lines'' maintains his journalistic standards. But isn't this supposed to be the sport where passion takes over?

Ley, who tends to believe American indifference is exaggerated, expresses major disappointment in how soccer has played in the states based on the U.S. team's three-losses-and-out performance. But that opinion comes off-camera.

``It's a results-oriented business,'' Ley said Wednesday night from the press box in Lens, France, hours before he and Seamus Malin did the Spain-Bulgaria match for ESPN.

``I'd encourage anyone to expand their thinking about the development of U.S. Soccer. It was a rude awakening for a lot of people - the coaches, the fans, the media. This country has a lot of growing up to do as a soccer nation.

``Will the American society be comfortable with that reality? I don't know.''

Ley doesn't seem to be.

He only hinted at those feelings during Thursday's U.S.-Yugoslavia telecast. Malin, as was his job, was a bit more subjective, but came nowhere close to the Dick Vitale enthusiasm that makes this country's NCAA basketball tournament so much more invigorating.

Musburger, meanwhile, just continues shilling. He'll be taking tickets at Paris' Euro-Disney next week.

As Ley and Malin continue their own Tour de France, doing games from seven of the 10 sites over the course of the tournament, it becomes more apparent to them that a U.S.-less Cup tournament translates to a black hole in TV programming.

``People can knock the sport out of narrow-mindedness,'' said Ley, a former public-address announcer for the NASL's New York Cosmos in the '80s. ``Some honestly don't find it interesting. I respect that if it's grounded in something intelligent.

``I think (U.S. goalkeeper) Kasey Keller said it best: `Americans are great at inventing games and calling themselves world champions.' Americans have to understand it is a global society and they live in it. Bit by bit, I think that's sinking in. Ask anyone whose financial portfolio took a hit recently when the yen took a fall.

``We knew coming in that the best-case scenario was the U.S. would play in five of the 64 games. It's our job to tell you what's left to watch.

``Sure, it's not like watching Mark McGwire take batting practice for most, but we (broadcasters) need to talk to so many who went to the matches in '94 and sat in the stadiums and felt the emotions. Maybe TV doesn't convey that feeling. Maybe the only way to do that is have people watch it on a top-of-the-line set with Sensurround.''

Or maybe the best way to compare the World Cup's TV future in the states is to draw a parallel to the investment potential of ostrich farming.

Both are on the cusp of becoming really big, we're told time and time again. But a flightless bird will always keep its head in the sand until he's used as a replacement for hamburger.

Or, in this case, Musburger.

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

Fox has lined up Josh Lewin and Frank Robinson to do Saturday's Angels-Padres game from San Diego, which only 10 percent of the country (the two home markets, plus Denver and Phoenix) will receive as the regional game of the week. Most of the country (59 percent) gets the Yankees-Mets contest in which catcher Mike Piazza has ironically agreed to help the Fox broadcast by wearing the catcher cam. . . .

Former media-basher Sterling Sharpe has agreed to another few years of paychecks from ESPN to continue doing the highly innocuous ``NFL Countdown'' and ``NFL Monday Countdown'' shows. . . . CBS and the Pro Bowling Association decided to go two more years with their television agreement.

SOUND BYTES By Tom Hoffarth

WHAT SMOKES

Eric Wynalda as a used-car salesman in commercial spots for Reebok. A little foreshadowing?

Had the Lakers needed to get hold of potential trade-bait Eddie Jones for a deal during Wednesday's NBA Draft, they could have just hopped onto America Online. Jones, conducting a youth-basketball camp in North Hollywood this week, was doing a live chat for AOL when the draft started. Better him online than Nick Van Nugget.

Vin Scully's eloquent way of stating the obvious. After the Dodgers issued four walks in the ninth to lose in Anaheim on Monday, Scully summarized: ``And Glenn Hoffman gets a taste of the vinegar that Bill Russell had been drinking all season long.''

WHAT CHOKES

Where are all the Dodgers scoops on Fox Sports News? FSN is either doing a great job of embargoing the hirings and firings by its corporate partners or it has no idea what's going on right under its nose.

Any of the Dodgers broadcasters - in particular, Vin ``Wolfman Jack'' Scully - having to promo the two groups who'll be part of Sunday's ``Rock Around The Park'' postgame concert. Scully can make War and Color Me Badd sound like Lovin' Spoonful and The Archies. Maybe they can have Vinny run down the Color Me Badd discography, which has titles like ``I Want To Sex You Up.''

WHAT SMOKED ON LOCAL TV

The top 10 Nielsen-rated sports events (with their share numbers) on L.A. television from June 18-24:

Event Date Station Rt/Sh.(x)

Dodgers-Angels 6/23 KCAL 8.5/14

World Cup: U.S.-Iran 6/21 KABC  7.4/20

U.S. Open final round 6/21 KNBC  7.0/19

World Cup: Belgium-Mexico 6/20 KMEX 6.8/22

Dodgers-Angels 6/22 FSW 5.3/9

U.S. Open 3rd round 6/20 KNBC 4.6/14

World Cup: U.S.-Iran 6/21 KMEX 4.3/12

W.Cup: Netherlands-S.Korea 6/20 KMEX 4.1/12

Dodgers-Colorado 6/19KTLA  3.9/8

Angels-Texas 6/20 KTTV3.7/10

(x) One rating point equals 50,092 TV homes in Los Angeles; a share is the percentage of all the TV sets in use at that time.

CAPTION(S):

2 Boxes

BOX: (1) SOUND BYTES By Tom Hoffarth (see text)

(2) WHAT SMOKED ON LOCAL TV (see text)