No TV blackouts for Rams this season

Media Views: No TV blackouts for Rams this season

Dan Caesar

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/television/dan-caesar/media-views-no-tv-blackouts-for-rams-this-season/article_c91260bf-13aa-513a-96ff-078e7aaabc5c.html

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If 2015 indeed is the final fling for the Rams in St. Louis, the team’s primary local broadcast outlets could feel the pinch in what would be a lame-duck season.

With the club having done little to endear itself to its local fan base, attendance is expected to be at a record low for the home opener Sunday when the club plays Seattle — which has been in the Super Bowl the past two seasons.

As the local Fox affiliate, KTVI (Channel 2) has carried the vast majority of Rams telecasts in their two decades in St. Louis. That’s because the network has the rights to almost all Sunday afternoon games when an NFC team is at home — the case with most Rams contests.

Spencer Koch has run the station throughout that span, and KTVI is scheduled to carry 12 of their contests this season as a year of much uncertainty begins.

“Nobody knows what that’s going to be,” he said. “It’s going to be a very, very sensitive (time) to see how this goes.”

One thing is certain: All Rams games are to be shown in St. Louis no matter how low ticket sales are. The NFL has suspended its blackout policy this season with two other teams also in flux; the Chargers and Raiders also could be moving.

But Koch is not expecting a big ratings dip this season despite all the uncertainty and negative sentiment toward Rams owner Stan Kroenke. In fact, that actually could help television ratings because some fans might not want to contribute to Kroenke’s bankroll by buying tickets but will be intrigued enough to watch the team on TV.

“It’s interesting, the Rams’ four preseason games (ratings) were up 5-8 percent from last year,” Koch said. “It shows they were watching, hopefully building momentum.”

There is optimism on the field this season for a club that has had a mere four winning seasons in its 20 in the city, and is 135-184-1 since arriving. The only shining light was their 37-11 stretch in the 1999-2001 seasons that included two Super Bowl appearances and one title. But that is a fading memory — they’ve had 11 consecutive non-winning seasons since.

Still, Nielsen says 18.3 percent of homes with a TV in the market tuned in to Rams telecasts last season, up from the 17.7 rating the previous year. While far short of the 31 rating their telecasts averaged in that three-year “Greatest Show on Turf” era, individual Rams telecasts consistently still have been among the most-watched programs on St. Louis television.

“The ratings have been decent over the last three or four years considering the record,” Koch said. “I’m expecting the same sort of numbers again. With the Cardinals in the race in baseball and this happening here, you’ve got a lot of sports viewership going on.”

WXOS (101.1) has been the team’s radio network flagship outlet since the station adopted the sports format in 2009. The Rams are its anchor property and drive conversation on many of its talk shows. The Rams’ presence also leads to a considerable amount of ancillary content, including pregame and postgame programs plus coach Jeff Fisher’s weekly show.

“It’s important to have a big NFL local team,” said John Kijowski, who has run the station since its inception.“There’s an expectation the Rams are on 101 ESPN. That would hurt” if they move.

“We are truly having a terrific financial year. That will be three in a row. However, we are more financially successful with Rams than without Rams.

“As far as revenue this year, we actually are at par with last year and in fact will end up with more Rams revenue due to the additions of new advertisers.”

BUSINESS ANGLE

Koch and Kijowski remain hopeful that the Rams stay in St. Louis. But they are realistic, too, and have planned for next season if the team is gone.

“We will go to a Plan B for Sunday entertainment and content,” Kijowski said. “Which is, we would take on two NFL games on Sunday. We are poised for coverage of the NFL now actually” he said, noting that the station carries Monday and Thursday night games and will carry postseason contests, including the Super Bowl.

Channel 2 also would soldier on without the Rams, but it would be a hit to a station that for the last two decades has tied a key marketing campaign to the team.

“We’ve been able to bill ourself as ‘Home of the Rams’ since I had black hair for God sakes,” Koch said. “We’ve been wearing that … moniker for 21 years now. It works.”

But that bandwagon might soon be heading into the sunset out west.

“Would it affect us? Sure it would,” he said of what will happen if the team leaves. “Obviously it’s the local team and draws strong numbers, but not as much as you would think.”

And he said the impact on the station probably would be less than it would have been several years ago because the NFL has become a ratings magnet no matter what games are shown.

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN?

If the Rams leave, history says they won’t be gone on the St. Louis airwaves.The football Cardinals moved from St. Louis to Arizona following the 1987 season but their broadcasts remained on locally for years.

KMOX (1120 AM) was on their radio network for the team’s first four seasons in the desert. And their first 42 regular-season games after leaving were televised in St. Louis, primarily on KMOV (Channel 4). KSDK (Channel 5) finally cut the cord late in the 1990 season, when it carried a Chiefs-Raiders game with playoff implications instead of a contest between last-place teams Arizona and New England.

But the “better” game performed poorly in the ratings compared to what the Cards had done, and they were back on St. Louis TV the next week. It wasn’t until late in 1992 — nearly five full seasons after they had fled — that the Cardinals finally were off local television on a regular basis.

Then there was the Warner Factor, when KTVI showed New York Giants games whenever possible in 2004 because popular former Ram Kurt Warner was their quarterback in his first season since leaving St. Louis. Channel 2 was rewarded with strong ratings.

So would KTVI and WXOS follow suit with the Rams?

“We carried Kurt Warner when he went to the New York Giants, I don’t see why we wouldn’t carry the Los Angeles Rams in St. Louis,” KTVI’s Koch said. “But a lot of that is taking the temperature of the viewership.”

That temperature has been hot, at least this summer.

“A great example is when the Rams played the Titans in a (nationally televised) preseason game a couple weeks ago,” Koch said. “We … did 10 times the rating than they did in Los Angeles with the Rams.”

But there are more factors he would consider, including other games available.

“And it depends on how they would leave,” he said. “I think they’d do it the classy way — but I still hope they won’t leave.”

Kijowski, meanwhile, was playful about the situation but did not rule out becoming a Los Angeles Rams radio affiliate.

“Don’t say that!” he said, laughing at that possibility. “I’m not hearing that. Goodbye.”

IN THE BOOTHS

Television broadcast assignments this weekend for the major area football teams:

Illinois vs. Western Illinois, 11 a.m. Saturday (BTN) • Matt Devlin (play-by-play), J Leman (analysis), Rebecca Haarlow (reporter).

Rams vs. Seattle, noon Sunday (KTVI, Channel 2) • Kenny Albert (play-by-play), Daryl Johnston (analysis) Laura Okmin (reporter).

Note: Tony Siragusa, who used to be on this team, this season is working with Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis.