St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 14

3 MAR 11985 -ports Time Und peraltiorts BflsiE'ch 31 By Eric Mink Post pispatch TVRadio Critic Sports Time Cable Network will cease operations March 31, the company announced late Thursday. In a prepared statement, the company said it had been unable to "generate sufficient revenues from cable subscribers and advertisers to cover its operating cost." Sports Time has been in existence less than a year. One source familiar with sports financing, who asked not to be identified, said Sports Time could have been losing as much as $1 million per month. Costs to produce" Sports Time's basic menu of sports programming primarily major league baseball, college football and basketball and some professional hockey were high, as were the fees demanded by some sports franchises and conferences in exchange for the right to televise their games. In recent months, Sports Time had cut back the number of its non-event programs in an effort to control expenses.

Although Sports Time carried some advertising mostly Anheuser-Busch advertising its primary source of revenue was the consumer. Initial company projections called for Sports Time to have 150,000 paid subscribers by the end of its first year of operation, which started April 3, 1984. According to the most recent company statements, however; Sports Time has only 37,000 paid subscribers throughout Its 15-state service region, including about 15,000 in the St. Louis area, about 9,000 in and around Kansas City and 3,000 in Cincinnati. Several months ago, In an effort to make the channel more appealing to advertisers, Sports Time altered its basic philosophy and allowed cable systems in non-metropolitan areas to offer the service to consumers at no additional charge.

That change added an additional 1 million non-paying homes' to the company's viewer base. A source close to Sports Time said that the decision to fold the operation was made by representatives of Sports Times' three limited partners Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc, Multimedia Inc. of Greenville, S.C., and Tele-Communications Inc. of Denver who met in person and via telephone at the Anheuser-Busch brewery Wednesday.

The staff, about 35 at offices in St. Louis and about 50 at production facilities in Cincinnati, learned of the decision Thursday. Anheuser-Busch's share of the operation was said to be about 50 percent, with the two other entities owning about 25 percent each. Michael Fleming, an employee of the Fleishman-Hillard public relations company and spokesman for Sports Time, refused to comment beyond the company's prepared statement. Fleming also said that neither Michael Roarty, president of Sports Time and executive vice president of feheuser-Busch, nor Larry Albus, Sports Time's vice president and general manager, would be available to answer questions.

The prepared statement was attributed to Albus. One Sports Time executive said that Multimedia, which had been been primarily responsible for the production side of the business, had been trying to find a buyer for part of its share of the business. The statement issued by Sports Time said only that "attempts to obtain an additional partner have proven unsuccessful." The decision apparently caught many people by surprise, including some close to the situation. Gary Blase, vice president-administration for the baseball Cardinals, said "I think we all were shocked" by the decision. Less than two weeks ago, Sports Time announced that it would be offering 60 Cardinals games, including 50 home games, this year.

The Cardinals, of course, also are owned by Anheuser-Busch. Just one week ago, Sports Time announced an agreement with Continental Cablevision that finally would have made the service available for purchase to all cable subscribers in the St. Louis area. SECTION spalls ClassifiedPage 12 Finally Foimdls tf ame. fortune A- 7 rsf't UPI during a workout in St.

Petersburg, on his first visit to the team. Cardinals General Manager Dal Maxvill listens to Manager Whitey Herzog explain strategy Mar. 1, 1985 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Wednesday's Game BUFFALO 1 0 0-1 BLUES 0 2 1-3 FIRST PERIOD BUFF. C.

Ramsav 11 (Hamel) 5:15 Penalties Schoenfeld (Buffalo) Peterson (Buffalo) Hamel (Buffalo) 15:00. SECOND PERIOD BLUES Wickenheiser 19 (Reeds, Bothwell) 10:58 BLUES (PPG) Sutter 32 (Federko, Mullen) 16:35 Penalties Perreault (Buffalo) Wickenheiser (Blues) 19:07. THIRD PERIOD BLUES Anderson 5 (Barr, Pavese) 10:37 Penalties Sutter (Blues) Reeds (Blues) Anderson (Blues) Selling (Buffalo) 15:11. SHOTS ON GOAL BUFFALO 12 11 11-34 BLUES 11 14 6-31 Goaltenders Buffalo, Barrasso (20-14-8); Blues, Millen (17-22-6). Referee Bob Myers.

A invaluable in terms of gaining respect for him and the team. "I'm happy for two things," he said, "that the organization is doing well, and that the hard work that our players have displayed is finally paying off for them. "And I'm happy that I'm finally being considered among the good coaches in the NHL. Just to be considered for coach of the year is a great honor." Demers was voted coach of the year in the American Hockey League two seasons ago, when his Fredericton team won a division title. "Winning it in the American League was a great thrill," he said, "but the NHL is the best league in the world." Voting for the award is done by broadcasters.

Lately, it has proved to be a bit of a jinx. Demers is aware that four of the last five coaches to win the award Pat Quinn, Red Berenson, Tom Watt and Orval Tessier were fired within two seasons after it was bestowed. "I have absolutely no fear that if it becomes reality, it will be a jinx," he said. "I have enough confidence in myself as a coach. I use the word because I'm not the only one the running.

There are a lot of quality coaches in the NHL. But as much as See BLUES, Page 6 Joe Mullen He's not worried on the team to Sutter. He had scored a career-high 41 last season. "There are all sorts of goodies for Joe to achieve," Caron said. "Let's see how close he can get to the maximum and then see.

He's on his way to getting close to the maximum. He (Rauch) said he had no problem with that" Neither Caron nor Rauch contended that their talks had been anything but cordial. "Ron has made it clear he'd like to sign Joe," Rauch said. "There's no bad feeling. Joe has been very consistent in saying that he's happy with the team, the city and the guys.

But you always qualify that by saying that Joe is a professional, and if he becomes a See MULLEN, Page 7 BusinessPages 8-12 Kevin Horrigan Sports Editor Was Or Devil TV Made The Owners Spend Big Bucks So the Lords of Baseball are crying poor-mouth. The major league owners have asked the Major League Players Association to suspend negotiations on a new contract while both sides consider what is being called baseball's serious financial condition. All together now: "Give me a break." This is like Custer asking the Sioux to suspend hostilities while both sides consider the cavalry's strategic shortcomings. Or Boom Boom Mancini asking Livingstone Bramble to stop pounding him while they discuss whether boxing is a brutal sport. Or Walter Mondale asking Ronald Reagan to suspend the election while they consider abolishing the Electoral College.

Baseball's owners, having given away the store to the players, now tell the players that the store is on the verge of going belly-up and that they'd better give it back to them so it can be properly managed. IN THE PAST couple of months, baseball's owners have been creating millionaires faster than TV's John Beresford Tipton used tcT do. In one week, the Boston Red Sox agreed to pay three players outfielder Jim Rice, third baseman Wade Boggs and relief pitcher Bob Stanley a total of $15 million to play ball over the next four or five years. Ten years ago you could have bought the whole team for that, lock, stock and Fenway Park. Thirty-six big-league ballplayers now make at least $1 million a year, including Jack Clark, Ozzie Smith and Joaquin Andujar of the Cardinals.

Neil Allen is very close. But having unburdened themselves of George Hendrick and having lost Bruce Sutter to free agency, the Cardinals maintained their second-division standing among the National League's big spenders. If baseball is in serious financial difficulty, it's not August Busch's fault. The fault, dear Brutus, lies not with the stars who get the big money. It lies with the arbitration rule that the owners agreed to in 1976.

And it lies with the free spenders in cities in big television markets. In sports, money is not the root of all evil. Television is. Consider the aforementioned loss of Sutter to the Atlanta Braves. Owner Turner of the Braves signed Sutter to a $36 million contract because Sutter will win games for him, which will increase the ratings of Turner's cable superstation, which will enable him to charge advertisers more money.

In one of his first moves, baseball's new commissioner, Peter Ueberroth, tried to rein in Turner's WTBS and the other superstations. Ueberroth figured Turner owed the other owners something for sending Braves' games into their markets, affording fans an excuse to stay home and watch the game on TV rather than going to their local ballpark. But Ueberroth let Turner off too lightly. The figure they arrived at was $6 million a year, or a little more than $250,000 a year per team. If an average ticket goes for $6, that compensates the owners for 41,000 fans or so.

One night's house. The commissioner now is in negotiations with the other superstations, including WGN in Chicago and WOR in New York. He'll get what he can from them, but it won't be enough. The Cubs and the Mets will continue to earn enough from cablecasts to distort the National League Eastern Division for years to come. THE OTHER OWNERS could do something about it, but they won't There seems to be a gentlemen's (and ladies') agreement among them not to mess in each other's business.

Instead they blame the players for getting too much money, ignoring the source of the money. Now the contract, or basic agreement, with the Players' Association is up for renewal. The owners want modifications in the See HORRIGAN, Page I QflaxvilhlGan Handle Jolb "There is a ton of things I have to indoctrinate myself on, and I'll approach those one at a time, like rules questions, and I'll bang them out." By Ron Cobb Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Coach Jacques Demers and the Blues were filing onto an airplane for a flight to St. Louis the other day when Demers spotted Pat Sajak sitting in the first-class section. "Hi," Demers said, extending a hand.

"I watch your show all the time. I'm Jacques Demers, coach of the Blues." Sajak, the host of the TV' game show "Wheel of Fortune," looked up at Demers as if to say, "Huh?" OK, so Demers isn't a household name yet on the game-show circuit. But he's come a long way since his days in Montreal, when he was driving a Coca-Cola truck during the day and going to computer school at night. He is working under a long-term contract, his team is in first place in the Norris Division, and he appears to be the leading candidate for National Hockey League coach of the year. "Everywhere I've gone," he said, "I've read that I'm a solid candidate for coach of the year.

Joe Falls (of the Detroit News) writes that I'm a shoo-in, and Steve Simmons in The Hockey News. It didn't even occur to me until I started reading about it. "I'd love to have it, but it's not something that would go to my head. I'm not going to say, 'No, I don't want But it's not a big ego thing." The Blues virtually could wrap up the division championship by sweeping the second-place Chicago Black Hawks this weekend in a home-and-home confrontation. The Blues have a six-point lead, with three games in hand.

Standing-room tickets were all that was left, as of Thursday evening, for Saturday night's game at The Arena. The Blues and Black Hawks will play again Sunday night in Chicago. Demers' chances of winning the Jack Adams Award may hinge on the Blues winning the division, but they may not. Chicago, having gone 8-2-1 in its last 11 games, could overtake the Blues without detracting too much from the Blues' fine season. Demers believes that the Blues' two victories over the Buffalo Sabres in the last week, both of which were telecast nationally either in the United States or Canada, were No Pact Yet With Blues For Mullen By Ron Cobb Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Blues' left wing Brian Sutter is in the fold for another four seasons, but what about right wing Joe Mullen? The Blues signed Sutter to a new contract this week after less than a month of negotiating.

Mullen, however, isn't close to signing, according to his agent Larry Rauch of NewYork. pretty far apart," Rauch said. "The Blues haven't offered anything we're interested in yet." Mullen's situation is more pressing than Sutter's was. Sutter would have been entering his option year next season. Mullen already is in his, and he will become a free agent if he isn't signed by June 1.

Ron Caron, the Blues' director of hwcey operations, said he "disagreed totally" with Rauch's statement that the two parties were far apart "That's his opinion," Caron said. "That could be strategy." Caron said he and Rauch had talked two or three times in the last week. "I don't see it as a big, big problem," Caron said. When they last talked, Caron said, he and Rauch agreed to wait until the National Hockey League regular season is almost over. By then, they will have a better idea of whether Mullen will reach certain incentives in his present contract With 29 goals, Mullen ranks second By Rick Hummel Of the Post-Dispatch Staff 1 ST.

PETERSBURG, Fla. At least one person associated with baseball wondered why the Cardinals would pick a "lightweight" for their general manager. That didn't mean Dal Maxvill's playing weight of 150 or so pounds but, rather, the fact he had no previous executive experience in baseball beyond third-base coach. Maxvill, however, said he hadn't perceived any negative reaction and didn't feel overmatched at all by his new position. "It would be awfully nice to be humble but I can handle the job," he said Thursday.

"It will be fun, a challenge. If I thought I couldn't do the job, I wouldn't have talked to them when they approached me. "I'm not overwhelmed by the job. I'm not in awe of the job. I'm not in awe of dealing with other general managers or players or agents or the press.

None of these things frightens me. I'm confident and I know I'm going to work hard." Maxvill huddled with Manager Whitey Herzog for an hour during the Cardinals' workout Thursday. "There were no trades talked, nothing signings of Tom Herr, Lonnie Smith and Joaquin Andujar. Will Maxvill get stepped on? Will he be able to make his own decisions? "On day-to-day matters, Fred Kuhlmann (chief operating officer) is my direct contact," Maxvill said. "If there's something the whole board wants to talk about, then I'll either get on the squawk box or fly to St.

Louis. "I said this the other day, too. I don't feel restricted That may sound like a copout, but it's not. The job is too big for one person to be a negotiator, a tax adviser, an accountant and an attorney. "Fifteen or 20 years ago, everybody had one-year contracts.

Nobody ever heard of deferred compensation. There wasn't much need to defer anything. You had to accept it all at once to live. I don't think there's a general manager who has that freedom to do everything. It might appear that way, but it's a bigger job than it used to be.

"As far as outside interference (in St. Louis), I don't think so. Both Lou and Fred said there would be no leaning on me or anyone else, and I believe them." It could be theorized that the See CARDS, Page indictment, Stewart said of the officiating: "So horse-bleep I couldn't believe it It was a disgrace to the Big Eight" Mizzou was outshot from the free throw line by 32-17. The Buffs made 13 of 15 free throws in the overtime, when they outscored the Tigers, 17-8. So with one game remaining for the Tigers in the regular season, the situation is this: A Missouri victory over K-State on Saturday night in Columbia would clinch third place, no matter what Iowa State does in its finale with Colorado in Ames, Iowa.

Mizzou is 7-6 in the conference and 17-11 overall. Iowa State is 6-7 and 18-11. Winston, claiming the fourth win of his head-coaching career since replacing ailing Jack Hartman in January, See MIZZOU.Page Law Of Averages Trips Tigers speculative. I just hadn't had a chance to talk to him alone," Maxvill said. On his second full day on the job, the meeting was just another facet of Maxvill's orientation.

"When the (Cardinals executive) committee talked to me, they told me it would take a year to get settled on the job. If they feel the learning process takes that long, fine, but I don't think that it will." It would be a fair question to ask how much power Maxvill will have inasmuch as Lou Susman, club President Gussie Busch's attorney and a member of the executive committee, has wielded much of management's power lately. Susman was the major negotiator in the Bruce Sutter affair and also in the long-term so well they were due for a momentary stutter-step. Colorado, meanwhile, was exceptional, what Mizzou had to be to win here. The Tigers own the paltry total of eight victories in 18 seasons in Boulder.

"All in all, we had our chances," said Missouri Coach Norm Stewart, who was on the bench collar-less for this game. Last Saturday, when Missouri dispatched Nebraska, Stewart had done his coaching from the stands at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, because of neck spasms he suffered. He wore a neck brace. On Wednesday night it was the officials who got it in the neck, with Stewart being the one handing out prickly barbs as the injured party. In what amounted to a strong By Dave Dorr Of the Post-Dispatch Staff When the sun came up over the Rocky Mountains on Thursday, Missouri's basketball team still was solidly in third place in the Big Eight Conference standings.

The Tigers had young Darryl Winston, the interim coach at Kansas State, and his Wildcats to thank for that K-State jolted Iowa State, 68-67, Wednesday night, preventing the Cyclones from pulling into a tie with Missouri. The Tigers gave Iowa State an opportunity to do this when they lost to Colorado, 88-79, in overtime Wednesday night in Boulder, Colo, After winning seven of its last eight games, the law of averages and Alex Stivrins caught up with Missouri. The Tigers had been playing.