THE U.S. Open women’s tennis finals will air – for the first time – in prime-time this year, a mark of how far the women’s game has come.
So why the sudden elevation to the big leagues of TV when the women’s final has traditionally aired in the afternoon?
“There’s never been more interest in the women’s game, due to the resurgence of Jennifer Capriati and the Williams sisters,” says CBS Sports president Sean McManus.
“And there’s no downside; from our standpoint, we’re pre-empting two hours of Saturday-night repeats anyway.”
Things could also get very interesting for CBS if the women’s final match features Martina Hingis against either Venus or Serena Williams.
Hingis blasted the Williams sisters in this week’s Time magazine, saying they only get sponsors “because they are black.
“And they have had a lot of advantages because they can always say, ‘It’s racism,’ ” Hingis said. “They can always come back and say, ‘Because we are this color, things happen.’ “
“Any executive who tells you he doesn’t root for a dream matchup is lying,” McManus says. “We’re hoping for the greatest marquee match . . . and, on paper right now, that’s Jennifer Capriati versus one of the Williams sisters.
“But if we don’t get that, we won’t be bitterly disappointed,” he says.
McManus says the seed for airing next Saturday’s finals in prime time was really planted during the women’s finals back in 1999.
“They aired later in the day [4:30-7 p.m.] and did an outstanding rating,” he says. “And last year [the women’s finals] went into prime time [7-8:30 p.m.] because of a rain delay and got a really good rating on top of the previous year.
“It’s probably a financial wash for us,” McManus says. “This is a one-time-only deal for us, but if we put up good numbers, we can establish a good prime-time franchise – in a timeslot that traditionally airs repeats.”
CBS pays $33 million a year for the rights.
The men’s finals are set to air Sunday, Sept. 4 at 4:30 p.m. – following CBS’s opening-day NFL telecast.