NewYorkDragons80
03-01-2002, 12:09 PM
NBC enters new arena as network turns to AFL
Friday, March 01, 2002
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff
NBC tried and failed with the XFL. Now here comes the AFL.
Less than a year after it axed the XFL from its schedule -- and put the league out of business -- NBC sports is on the verge of acquiring the broadcast rights to the Arena Football League beginning in 2003.
Industry sources with knowledge of the negotiations said the deal to show AFL games during the spring and summer could be announced as soon as next week. The final details are still being worked out, but the deal is likely to include weekly games on weekend afternoons and a revenue sharing plan that will minimize NBC's risk.
For NBC, the AFL represents the latest attempt to attract male viewers who have left the network in droves during the past five years as NBC lost the broadcast rights to the NFL and Major League Baseball.
NBC will also lose the broadcast rights to the NBA at the end of this season. After June, the network's big-time sports lineup includes just the Olympics through 2008, Notre Dame football, half the NASCAR season, and a handful of golf tournaments highlighted by the U.S. Open championships.
"Dick Ebersol needs programming," Doug Jacobs, principal of Innovative Sports Marketing, said of the chairman of NBC Sports. "Everything else is under contract. Arena Football is about all that's available."
And perhaps all Ebersol can afford.
NBC, a subsidiary of General Electric invested $3.5 billion five years ago to televise the Olympics from 2000-2008. Since then, Ebersol has refused to buy the rights to sporting events unless the network can break even.
The length and financial terms of the deal were not yet available.
Kevin Sullivan, a spokesman for NBC Sports, and Jennifer Boehmn, a spokeswoman for the AFL, both declined to comment on the pending agreement.
But one AFL team official was giddy about finally having a big-time network broadcasting deal after 16 years. Most AFL games have appeared on The Nashville Network and ESPN2, with a handful of games on ESPN and the championship game, known as the "ArenaBowl," appearing on ABC the past four years. Weekly exposure on one of the top four networks is the Holy Grail of any sports league.
"The league needs and has been working for some time to get a true network deal," said Chris Mara, general manager of the New Jersey Gladiators. "It will finally get the awareness level up in the major markets and drive our sponsorships up."
The deal with NBC also makes the league more attractive to the NFL, which holds an option to buy 49 percent of the business. The NFL must act on that option or let it expire at the end of the month.
Since the NFL purchased the option, AFL Commissioner David Baker has worked to position the league for an NFL acquisition. Baker split the AFL into two classes: the AFL, which is in 16 of the country's major markets, including New Jersey, Dallas, and Chicago; and the AFL2, which has 28 teams in small and mid-size markets, such as the Pensacola Barracudas and the Charleston Swamp Foxes.
Baker has further legitimized the league by convincing NFL owners, such as Jerry Jones and William Clay Ford, Jr., as well as other respected sports executives to purchase franchises for $5-12 million.
Now industry experts say Baker has landed another coup with the NBC deal.
"A major network television contract is going to improve the value of that league tremendously," said David Carter, who teaches about the business of sports at the University of Southern California.
From NBC's perspective, the AFL might help the network attract younger sports fans that tuned in to watch its telecasts of the Gravity Games and Beach Volleyball.
However, ratings for the "ArenaBowl" on ABC have declined each year since 1998, when the game earned a 1.6 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. Last year's game earned a 1.0 rating. Each ratings point equals 1.06 million homes.
Still, Carter said the AFL's growth over the p
Friday, March 01, 2002
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff
NBC tried and failed with the XFL. Now here comes the AFL.
Less than a year after it axed the XFL from its schedule -- and put the league out of business -- NBC sports is on the verge of acquiring the broadcast rights to the Arena Football League beginning in 2003.
Industry sources with knowledge of the negotiations said the deal to show AFL games during the spring and summer could be announced as soon as next week. The final details are still being worked out, but the deal is likely to include weekly games on weekend afternoons and a revenue sharing plan that will minimize NBC's risk.
For NBC, the AFL represents the latest attempt to attract male viewers who have left the network in droves during the past five years as NBC lost the broadcast rights to the NFL and Major League Baseball.
NBC will also lose the broadcast rights to the NBA at the end of this season. After June, the network's big-time sports lineup includes just the Olympics through 2008, Notre Dame football, half the NASCAR season, and a handful of golf tournaments highlighted by the U.S. Open championships.
"Dick Ebersol needs programming," Doug Jacobs, principal of Innovative Sports Marketing, said of the chairman of NBC Sports. "Everything else is under contract. Arena Football is about all that's available."
And perhaps all Ebersol can afford.
NBC, a subsidiary of General Electric invested $3.5 billion five years ago to televise the Olympics from 2000-2008. Since then, Ebersol has refused to buy the rights to sporting events unless the network can break even.
The length and financial terms of the deal were not yet available.
Kevin Sullivan, a spokesman for NBC Sports, and Jennifer Boehmn, a spokeswoman for the AFL, both declined to comment on the pending agreement.
But one AFL team official was giddy about finally having a big-time network broadcasting deal after 16 years. Most AFL games have appeared on The Nashville Network and ESPN2, with a handful of games on ESPN and the championship game, known as the "ArenaBowl," appearing on ABC the past four years. Weekly exposure on one of the top four networks is the Holy Grail of any sports league.
"The league needs and has been working for some time to get a true network deal," said Chris Mara, general manager of the New Jersey Gladiators. "It will finally get the awareness level up in the major markets and drive our sponsorships up."
The deal with NBC also makes the league more attractive to the NFL, which holds an option to buy 49 percent of the business. The NFL must act on that option or let it expire at the end of the month.
Since the NFL purchased the option, AFL Commissioner David Baker has worked to position the league for an NFL acquisition. Baker split the AFL into two classes: the AFL, which is in 16 of the country's major markets, including New Jersey, Dallas, and Chicago; and the AFL2, which has 28 teams in small and mid-size markets, such as the Pensacola Barracudas and the Charleston Swamp Foxes.
Baker has further legitimized the league by convincing NFL owners, such as Jerry Jones and William Clay Ford, Jr., as well as other respected sports executives to purchase franchises for $5-12 million.
Now industry experts say Baker has landed another coup with the NBC deal.
"A major network television contract is going to improve the value of that league tremendously," said David Carter, who teaches about the business of sports at the University of Southern California.
From NBC's perspective, the AFL might help the network attract younger sports fans that tuned in to watch its telecasts of the Gravity Games and Beach Volleyball.
However, ratings for the "ArenaBowl" on ABC have declined each year since 1998, when the game earned a 1.6 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. Last year's game earned a 1.0 rating. Each ratings point equals 1.06 million homes.
Still, Carter said the AFL's growth over the p