The University of Utah will earn in excess of $14 million for itself and the Mountain West Conference after breaking into the BCS' Fiesta Bowl, but local TV stations won't be making quite so much.
KUTV-Ch. 2, KTVX-Ch. 4, KSL-Ch. 5 and KSTU-Ch. 13 have all sent crews and satellite trucks and on-air personalities and producers to Tempe for the Big Game. They're doing lots of local newscasts and special programming, they're making a big deal out of it in their on-air promos, . . . but they're not expecting any big financial windfalls.
Even Ch. 4 — the local ABC affiliate that will carry the game at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday — will receive only 11 30-second spots during the network telecast, which is normal for local stations. And which isn't a whole lot.
"ABC certainly keeps the lion's share of that (advertising)," said KTVX general manager Dan D'Antuono.
Still, his station was able to charge a premium over the regular rates because a local team is involved, and he's certainly not complaining. "We're ecstatic. It's a huge game for us to have — I think probably an historic game."
"Historic" was a word that came up often when local TV executives described the Utah-Pittsburgh matchup.
"I think the Utes in a BCS bowl is a rare occurrence, and in a sport-conscious market like this, it is a big deal," said KUTV news director Steve Charlier, who sent a truck and nine staffers to the game.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing," said KSL news director Con Psarras, who has eight staffers in Tempe. "And it's an opportunity to extend our reach. As a station that covers BYU traditionally, we want to show we pay equal attention to that red school in the north."
That the Big Game is a Big Deal for local TV is not a matter of debate. How much the Big Game will mean in terms of Big Ratings for local broadcasters is debatable, however.
No one doubts the game itself will attract a huge audience.
"I would estimate that we would rival the Super Bowl here," said Ch. 4's D'Antuono, whose station has the biggest contingent — about 15 staffers — in Arizona.
In addition to its own postgame show on Saturday — which will lead right into the late local news — KTVX will air a special pregame edition of its "Hot Ticket" sports show on Friday at 10:35 p.m. The hope is that the additional exposure as the home station of the Fiesta Bowl will lead to higher ratings in the weeks and months to come — a theory not everyone is buying.
"You're not going to recruit audience," said KSL's Psarras, who nonetheless acknowledged that "all things considered, we'd love to have the game on NBC."
There's obviously an element of competition involved among local TV stations.
Ch. 2 is planning a pregame telecast Saturday from 5-6 p.m., something Ch. 4 can't do because it will be airing ABC's telecast of the Rose Bowl.
Ch. 5 will air a pregame of its own Friday at 9 p.m. in a special edition of "SportsBeat."
Ch. 13, which has about seven staffers in Tempe, is reporting live from the site of the game on its regularly scheduled newscasts.
KJZZ-Ch. 14 will air its own pregame show Friday at approximately 8:30 p.m. (after the Jazz game).
And channels 2, 4 and 5 will originate their late-night sports shows on Saturday from Tempe.
Not that, once again, anybody is expecting to reap big profits off the effort. "We won't make money by sending our crew down there," Ch. 2's Charlier said. "It's not a financial issue. It's not something that's going to drive revenue. We just want to be good partners with the university and serve our viewers."
Ah, well. Even Utah has to share that $14 million with the rest of the MWC.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com