NBC Sports had a battle to get the
Wimbledon Final on live back in 1979.
In 1979 Chet Simmons, the president of NBC Sports, and Don Ohlmeyer, the executive producer of NBC Sports, persuaded the network to give up its Saturday morning children's programming block in order to present the Gentlemen's Singles Finals from Wimbledon live to the U.S. Simmons and Ohlmeyer saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of the growing popularity of the sport with the emergence of superstars like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg.
It was not easy to just bump the cartoons from the lineup because they meant solid ratings and good money for the network. The 1979 Saturday morning lineup on NBC was Yogi's Space Race, the Godzilla Power Hour, Fantastic Four, Krofft Superstar Hour and Fabulous Funnies. But in the end Simmons and Ohlmeyer won out and it was decided the Gentlemen’s Singles Finals would be shown live at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
Bob Basche, who is working his 30th Wimbledon for NBC, picks up the story from here:
”I was a 26-year-old associate producer at NBC. Prior to doing our first live Wimbledon we had a strategy meeting in Florida on how we were going to cover Wimbledon. We were thinking about ways to promote the event and it occurred to me that our 9 a.m. start time in the east would mean some people would be eating breakfast when we came on the air. So I said how about calling it Breakfast at Wimbledon? As they say the rest is history and that phrase has become part of the sports vernacular and for that I am proud."
OK, NBC had the title Breakfast at Wimbledon all set. But a last-minute hitch in the plans almost ruined the first ever broadcast.
Basche: ”Well, the network had a great deal riding on the show and at our production meeting just before the Finals in London the Wimbledon officials told us that the players would do as always. They would walk on to the court at 8:50 a.m., warm up for 10 minutes and hit the first ball at exactly 9 a.m. But that would mean we would miss the opening few points of the Wimbledon Final.
"The 1979 final was between Bjorn Borg and Roscoe Tanner and that was a lucky break for us. Our broadcast team was Dick Enberg and Donald Dell and Dell was Tanner’s manager. He told Tanner to come out and go directly to the chair and request a bathroom break and not to come back out of the locker room until 9 a.m. So we got on the air and did not miss a thing. It also helped that Tanner battled Borg to five sets before losing, thus giving a successful first ever Breakfast at Wimbledon."
Things were in place from then on at Wimbledon.
The second Breakfast at Wimbledon wasn’t too shabby featuring the legendary "Battle of 18-16," the epic tiebreaker between Borg and McEnroe. Historic championship matches followed with teenager Boris Becker becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Gentleman's singles title in 1985 at the age of 17, the Williams sisters riveting the crowd with their athleticism, and of course Pete Sampras' record run of Wimbledon crowns. And last year, Wimbledon showcased the classic match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal that McEnroe coined "the greatest match we've ever seen." That epic five-setter started as "Breakfast at Wimbledon" and concluded near dinnertime in the States, drawing the best audience in 17 years.
Godzilla Power Hour open for those who might not have seen it.
For more info: Sports Examiner Paula Duffy is following the tennis action, Examiner Wimbledon coverage, NBCSPORTS, ESPN, Wimbledon and Tennis Channel
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