Tnt Hopes To Lure U.S. Viewers To World Cup Soccer Telecasts

The 1990 World Cup soccer tournament, which opened Friday in Italy, is a guaranteed television success around the world. Estimates of the global audience top 600 million while there is the potential for 1 billion people to see the final July 8 either live or on tape.

In the United States, however, nobody quite knows how many people will tune into daytime matches (starting at 8 a.m. or noon, Seattle time), especially if the United States doesn't fare well in the competition. Although the sport is growing in the United States, soccer telecasts never have attracted ratings numbers like those of baseball, basketball or football.

``This can be like the NCAA basketball tournament because every team has stars,'' said Turner Network Television's Bob Neal, lead commentator on the broadcast teams that will provide Americans with English-language coverage of 24 matches. ``If we can get people watching from the beginning and develop the stories of the teams and those stars then we can build an audience for the final July 8.''

But Neal admits that TNT faces a major task to lure viewers to a sport that has no history of TV success in the United States.

``I'm optimistic, but I'm a realist, too,'' he said. ``Soccer is not even generally available on United States television, so the World Cup may simply pop on the air as far as many people are concerned. But the World Cup is an exciting event if you follow the whole tournament. We need to take the broad stroke approach, not to educate, but to supplement what the people can see.''

Neal has some firm opinions about television soccer coverage in the United States, having done some 150 games in the old North American Soccer League before it died in the last decade.

``American television overtalks soccer,'' he said. ``I want to be a minimalist, informing the viewer of the time, the players and the flow of the game. Soccer is a totally connected game that requires a vision beyond the television monitor. The camera can't show everything that is happening on the field, so I'll watch the field and try to tell the viewers what's building out of their view.''

Neal is teamed with Mick Luckhurst as the prime TNT commentary team. They will call the three United States games, a task that will require some explanation for neophyte American viewers.

``The United States is like a I-AA college football team which suddenly has to play Notre Dame,'' Neal said. ``The big difference between our players and the ones they'll face is the lack of a professional league here. I see the American team as conservative and fundamental, but their best hope probably is that they might get a tie. Our production staff has pretaped pieces on the team and its players, so I think the public will get to know them and the challenge they face before long.''

TNT's other broadcast teams are headed by John Paul DellaCamera and Randy Hahn. DellaCamera will team with ex-U.S. captain Rick Davis, while Hahn and Ty Keogh, a former national team player, will work together.

TNT has exclusive English-language rights to the five-week event. That means about half of the American television homes won't be able to see English-language coverage from Italy, either because they don't have cable at all, or because their system doesn't carry TNT.

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World Cup TV schedule;

A schedule of World Cup soccer games on cable television. All the live games beamed to the Pacific Northwest will be shown on Turner Network Television.;

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FIRST ROUND;

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Day Time Matchup;

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Today 8 a.m. United States vs. Czechoslovakia;

Noon Brazil vs. Sweden;

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Thursday Noon Italy vs. United States;

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Sat., June 16 8 a.m. Brazil vs. Costa Rica;

Noon England vs. Netherlands;

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Sun., June 17 8 a.m. Ireland vs. Egypt;

Noon South Korea vs. Spain;

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Tue., June 19 Noon Austria vs. United States;

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SECOND ROUND;

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Sat., June 23 8 a.m. Group B winner vs. A, C or D third;

place;

Noon Group A second place vs. Group C;

second place;

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Sun., June 24 8 a.m. Group C winner vs. Group A, B or F;

third place;

Noon Group D winner vs. Group B, E or F;

third place;

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QUARTERFINALS;

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Sat., June 30 8 a.m. Game 39 winner vs. Game 43 winner;

Noon Game 41 winner vs. Game 42 winner;

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Sun., July 1 8 a.m. Game 38 winner vs. Game 40 winner;

Noon Game 37 winner vs. Game 44 winner;

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SEMIFINALS;

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Tue., July 3 11 a.m. Game 45 winner vs. Game 46 winner;

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Wed., July 4 11 a.m. Game 47 winner vs. Game 48 winner;

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THIRD PLACE;

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Sat., July 7 11 a.m. Semifinal losers;

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CHAMPIONSHIP;

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Sun., July 8 11 a.m. Semifinal winners;