SPORTS Thursday, July 21, 1983 4 Page 12 The Michigan Daily NCAA TV debate goes on 4 By MIKE BERRES First of a two-part series "You would have to be a Philadelphia lawyer to completely understand what's going on," said Will Perry, Michigan's assistant athletic director on Tuesday, summing up the chaotic college football television righta situation currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court. LAST YEAR the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia were hosting football games that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) had decided not to televise. Each college's athletic association offered and sold the television rights to the highest bidder, which was forbidden under NCAA rules. The NCAA informed them that they were not allowed to do this because the NCAA had exclusive television rights to all NCAA teams. The NCAA's announcement of ex- clusive rights was the first shot fired in a struggle over the control of college football television rights and the millions of dollars that goes with the privilege. That struggle has turned into all-out war. Michigan Athletic Director Don Canham was on the original NCAA committee which set up the TV rules and regulations in 1955. "THINGS HAVE CHANGED," said Canham. "It's a whole new ballgame. Today there are the networks, cable, and pay TV. Some of the rules are out- dated." One of these is the rule limiting NCAA teams to six televised appearances over a two year period. "Both Michigan and Illinois were on four times last year," Canham ex-. 'No matter what happens, the Big Ten and Michigan will be better off (financially) this year than last year.' -Don Canham University athlktic director plained. "We can appear on TV only twice (under the NCAA contract)." Michigan plays Washington and Ohio State, as well as Illinois. "Our Illinois game may be pivotal in the Big Ten race. Under the NCAA plan, one of those weeks they'll have to show a Slip- pery Rock-Shippensburg type game." IT WAS THAT very rule that kept the NCAA from televising Oklahoma or Georgia. The athletic associations of each university then sued the NCAA in a New Mexico federal court. The schools claimed that the NCAA had violated the Sherman Act, a major antitrust law, by controlling the televising of college football. U.S. District Court Judge Juan Bur- ciaga agreed with Oklahoma and Georgia in their lawsuit. In his judgment, Burciaga nullified a $263.5 million TV contract the NCAA had with the ABC, CBS, and WTBS networks. HOW MUCH money was at stake? According to Perry, "The networks paid $1.1 million for a nationally televised game and $620,000 for a regional game last year. The NCAA takes 7% right off the top." Approximately $75 million was paid by the networks for last year's rights. By nullifying the contract, the NCAA will automatically lose $14 million of the $200 million it would have received for the remainder of the contract. In addition it will also lose other fees of various amounts paid by the univer- sities. The NCAA, exercising their con- stitutional right and not wanting to be left without a slice of the TV pie, ap- pealed to the next court up. The 10th Cir- cuit Court agreed to postpone the affect of the lower court's ruling until it had had a chance to review the case. The three judge panel followed Burciaga's decision and lifted their stay last May. THE NCAA then asked for another stay so that the entire nine-man panel of the 10th Circuit Court could review the case. It was denied two weeks ago. The affect of this decision was to open up the TV negotiating rights to the schools or a designated committee such as the College Football Association (CFA). Michigan, according to Canham, will negotiate as a part of the Big Ten. "The Big Ten," said Canham, "will stick together. We won't sign an., agreement until we've all agreed upon it ourselves." The NCAA took its final course of ac- tion last week when it asked Supreme Court Justice Byron White to issue a temporary stay until the Supreme Court could hear the case and render its decision. Such a decision would occur in late 1983 or early 1914. A stay, whether temporary or permanent, would keep things as they are: the NCAA in control. "Right now the best action that could be taken is to set up a package similar to the NCAA's, but voluntary, for the 1913 season," Canham said. Specifically he offered three possible solutions to the problem which could be used for the 1983 season: 1) have the universities involved decide by vote to keep the NCAA plan, 2) adopt a plan similar to the NCAA's but allow the net- works to decide which games get televised, 3) negoatiate as conferences and have a committee make decisions con- cerning the non-conference games. AS OF NOW things are on hold. White has put a temporary stay on any lower court decision. This decision sur- prised many observers of the case because Justice White does not oversee the U.S. District Court in New Mexico. That's kind of like the home plate um- pire overruling a close call at first base. Canham explained why it really wasn't a surprise: "He's doing his job and wants to hear both sides of-the case. He gave Oklahoma and Georgia 48 hours to file their briefs with him. They did and he'll make a judgement based on those findings." Most legal observers feel that White will uphold the decision of the lower courts and lift a stay, according to Canham. This could launch a whole new set of problems for the NCAA and college football. "No matter what happens, the Big Ten and Michigan will be better off (financially) this year than last year," said Canham. Saturday: A look at the ramifications for the Universitv 4 I 4 4 Oakland rally drowns Tigers From wire service reports OAKLAND, Calif. - Bill Almon broke out of a slump with a three-run homer in a six-run seventh inning yesterday and Dwayne Murphy drove in three runs with a homer and a single to lead the Oakland A's to a 9-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Oakland, which had fallen behind 2-1 in the top half of the seventh, scored all six runs off reliever Doug Bair, 3-1. Bair, acquired by Detroit on June 21 in a trade with St. Louis, had pitched 191-3 scoreless innings since joining the Tigers. BAIR GAVE UP a single to Mike Heath, a bunt base hit to Tony Phillips and another single by Rickey Henderson, who earlier stole his 55th base of the season, which singled home Heath. Murphy then delivered Phillips and Henderson with a single. Davey Lopes then reached base on an error, and after the inning's second out, Almon hit his third home run of the season over the left-field fence. Chris Codiroli, 7-6, scattered seven hits to gain the victory as the A's and Tigers split their six-game season series. Murphy's homer in the sixth inning gave Oakland a 1-0 lead. But he misplayed a fly to deep center by Rick Leach in the seventh into a double which scored Larry Herndon, who had singled, and Wayne Krenchicki who had walked. Codiroli pitched his fourth complete game, striking out three ad walking four. 4 4 AP Photo Rickey Henderson, shown here getting picked off in a game against Detroit last year, knocked in three runs and scored two to help the Oakland A's down the Detroit Tigers 9-2 in Oakland yesterday afternoon.