February 12, 1979 – Four Days Left to Fund E. S. P. Network

Plainville, Connecticut – Scott and Ed worked with the Bristol Redevelopment Authority today and gained a two-week extension to close on the land we wanted to buy.

JB was very low. He had arranged for me to visit Taft Broadcasting tomorrow on my way to Kansas City for another NCAA meeting, but he was so discouraged that he didn’t plan to attend. Not only did he not plan to visit Taft, he added, “I don’t even know why we’re going to see Byers. We can’t sign a contract even if we want to – we can’t pay for it.”

“Let’s try Evey (Getty VP) one more time,” I suggested.

“OK,” he reluctantly agreed. That call drove him even deeper into depression. “Stu says if we insist n an answer today, it’s NO. I really think we should call off the NCAA meeting and save the plane fare,” he grumbled.

“We’ve come this far and we have our tickets,” I said. “Let’s play out the string.”

“Yeah, we might as well. See you in Kansas City.”

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January 24, 1979 – RCA Americom – The Transponder

Piscataway, New Jersey – Our meeting at RCA was a classic example of high-level corporate sparring. George Conner, representing Getty, was trying to find out just how far RCA would go with our transponder lease without a major financial commitment, while Dennis Elliott was poking around trying to discover just how real Getty’s interest in us was.

JB and I merely tried to keep the conversation alive with positive comments about our upcoming meetings with the NCAA and Budweiser, along with the continued positive MSO response.

George, JB and I left Dennis feeling that we still had some time, but that our days were definitely numbered. We needed a big money partner – and soon! With this newly perceived pressure from RCA, we left for the Philadelphia Airport and our flight to Kansas City and tomorrow’s meeting with the NCAA TV Committee.

Fog shrouded the airport and there was some doubt about our ability to find an outbound flight to make that scheduled NCAA meeting at the Kansas City Airport Marriott. Wouldn’t that ne something? On the threshold of a decision and fogged in…in Philadelphia, of all places.

After numerous ticket changes and hours later than scheduled, we finally did head for KC and the highly anticipated meeting.