Why Doesn't CBS Have Any Major Spring + Summer Sports?

[TMC]

http://fangsbites.com/2011/04/why-do...nday-thoughts/

A Dormant Spring & Summer Season

CBS Sports is once again on a busy streak that really began last August with the PGA Championship to the US Open, the NFL, SEC Football, college basketball to March Madness ending this weekend with The Masters®. And after Sunday, I don’t get to blog about CBS Sports unless it’s talking about the ratings for one of its many golf tournaments it will be televising from now until August. In the 1980′s, CBS had a pretty formidable lineup every year starting in January with the Cotton Bowl, the NFC playoffs, then the NBA All-Star Game in February, March Madness, The Masters in April then the NBA Playoffs in May and ending in June with the NBA Finals and the Tour de France.

The lineup was adjusted in the early 1990′s with the Winter Olympics, Major League Baseball, losing the NBA, then the NFL, gaining it back, losing college football and signing the SEC.

Since Sean McManus was signed by CBS back in 1996 to lead its Sports Division and restore its luster, he’s worked hard to get the NFL, SEC, retain the NCAA Tournament, the US Open, PGA Championship and The Masters. But there’s a real dearth of sports for CBS from April through September. It’s mostly the PGA and whatever niche sport CBS can sign for the CBS Sports Spectacular.

From here until September, NBC with the NHL, Triple Crown and tennis along with ESPN/ABC and TNT with the NBA dominate the sports landscape.

Can CBS break into this lineup? It could if showed interest in the current bidding for the NHL, but there’s no indication of this. NBC just signed all of the Triple Crown for five years so that’s out. ESPN and TNT appear to be solidly in the NBA’s camp so CBS’ chances to re-enter the NBA market appear to be slim. And the network doesn’t seem to be interested in Wimbledon or the French Open, but then again, NBC has had them for so long that it doesn’t seem likely that it would go to another network.

So will CBS get a major Spring or Summer event to add to its inventory? Not for the foreseeable future, but it would be nice.

[AKA]

I've actually been surprised CBS, ABC and especially NBC haven't made any serious pushes to get Major League Baseball back in the past decade. I'm glad Bob Costas works with MLB Network, but it'd be nice to hear him calling games on NBC again.