Sept. 28, 1964 - The three major T.V. networks prepared today for a lively bidding scramble for rights to a possible pennant playoff next week between three baseball teams in the National League. Some thought also was addressed to the problem of what to do in case of a simultaneous playoff in the American League.
Should the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and St. Louis Cardinals tie for the National League pennant, it would result in the first three-way playoff in baseball. And without any precedent for selling television rights, it is possible that one network might get rights to some of the games and another network to other games.
NBC’s “Game of the Week” contract with Cincinnati gives the network an option to televise all playoff games by Cincinnati at home. Today, NBC notified Cincinnati it had exercised the option. NBC also submitted bids to St. Louis and Philadelphia.
Carl Lindemann Jr., vice president of sports for NBC, declined to say how much had been bid. In the last National League playoff in 1962 between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, NBC paid about $200,000 per game for rights.
CBS has “Game of the Week” contracts with St. Louis and Philadelphia, but in neither case does it have options for playoff games. The sale of TV rights is controlled by the home team.
NBC has submitted bids to the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles in the American League, which could be involved in a playoff. The network already has a playoff option with the Chicago White Sox, now tied with Baltimore for second place.
CBS said today that its “Game of the Week” contract with the Yankees contained an option to playoff games, but no price was stipulated. A spokesman for CBS, which recently bought 80% of the Yankees, said: “If the Yankees set a price that we do not want to pay, then the club can sell their home playoff games to a higher bidder.”
Roone Arledge, director of sports for ABC, said his network had not made formal bids to the teams but had consulted with all of them.
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