I apologize for not being clearer in my post about the change in time
of the championship game.  ESPN wanted it moved to 1:30 pm EST on Sat
4/1/95, and ESPN plans to show it live at that time.  The way I
understood it, the seven year contract (slated to expire after the
1997 final) allows ESPN to set the time in return for ESPN showing the
game live.  That contract began in 1991 with the NMU-BU game, a year
after Wisconsin-Colgate was shown live on just a few local stations
and only got national coverage the following weekend on tape delay on
ESPN.
 
The first four years of the deal, ESPN opted to have the game go head
to head with the hoop semis in hopes of attracting non-hoop sports
fans.  Apparently there has been some reconsideration of that decision.
 
I would be interested to hear more on the reasons for ESPN's moving
the game and what they hope to realize.  Perhaps they now believe the
game can stand on its own and deserves to be set apart from the hoop
semis.  I really don't know.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
<<<<< Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors (station TBA for 94-95) >>>>>