The Arena Football League ends their season tomorrow.Dosen't their TV deal with NBC expire this year?I know that NBC is courting with MLB to get some postseason coverage.If they were to bowl out on the AFL should ABC/ESPN consider getting it?
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AFL TV Deal Question?
- Thread starter oldvnewschool
- Start date
I believe CBS would step things into carrying the AFL. NBC, the last-place TV network is thinking about carrying MLB games on Saturday Nights-if FOX decided to decline after the current season. What's left of ABC Sports is now a part of ESPN, and what ABC plans to carry, nows goes through ESPN first.
NBC's deal with the AFL, if I'm not mistaken, is on a year-by-year review basis, meaning that once the season is done the network will make a decision on whether to continue the deal the next year. Financially, the deal is favorable for NBC in that they do not have to pay the AFL any rights fee and gets to share with the league in any profits the deal may generate. Unfortunately, the broadcasts haven't been ratings grabbers, and I imagine NBC could take that into consideration for their future AFL plans. (The sport itself, IMO, is a good product; it's just that it seems to be one of those "niche" sports that attracts a small yet devoted audience.)But if NBC takes a pass on the AFL in the future, I think the league has already found its white knight: OLN/Versus. When NBC's Sunday afternoons were tied up with the Stanley Cup playoffs in April and May, OLN stepped in and provided national coverage of games (and during the AFL's stretch run, no less).Whether or not you see the AFL on NBC next year, don't be surprised if you see more of the AFL on Versus. Even though they're in fewer homes than NBC, a regular presence on Versus (if it's well-promoted) would be beneficial to the AFL, and that would be something they'd never receive on a carrier like CBS, FSN, or ESPN/ABC.
J
jellyeggs
Guest
And you know this how? ??? Do you work for NBC or an affiliate Troy?
NBC went with the AFL for two reasons 1) Money: didnt cost them a thing 2) To kiss up to the NFL (which owns 49 percent of the aFL) so they could get at least one NFL game per week..which they did.As for the future, look for the league to bolt elsewhere. Keep in mind the peacock dumped the AFL for the NHL the last THREE WEEKS of the regular season? WTF does that?Tampa Bay Coach Tim Marcum is on record against the net coming back...especially since the Peacock convinced the league to realign the playoffs to guarantee an east-west final, forcing the league to allow two teams with losing records to make the playoffs.
Well, the speculation on this thread had some merit: NBC's relationship with the AFL (originally 2 years, then extended for 2 more, ending this season) will be discontinued. The AFL is now talking with other TV outlets for carriage of their games... though according to Broadcasting & Cable, CBS is not among those being considered.
http://www.arenafootball.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3500&ATCLID=323659&SPID=1563
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6348926.html?display=Breaking+News
http://www.arenafootball.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3500&ATCLID=323659&SPID=1563
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6348926.html?display=Breaking+News
J
Jul
Guest
I think one of the reasons for this because NBC joined the National conference Divisional playoff game of the AFL in progress. NBC joined the game live in progress in the second quarter because NBC wanted to stay with final round coverage of the senior PGA championship which went to a 3 hole playoff. This was back on May 28th. I have a feeling that the AFL was not happy with NBC staying with golf instead of moving the golf event to one of its sister cable channels and joining the AFL game in progress after the Senior PGA championship had ended. NBC press release: http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/sports-20060630000000-aflnbcfailtore.html
I think this was pretty mutual. NBC didn't really care much about the games and used them as filler. My guess is that the AFL sees the potential to get some cash from someone like OLN (soon to be Versus) instead of just a split of ad revenue. "Some" cash is better than none I suppose.
Another thought here: what if one of the new networks (CW or My) picked it up? If you look at those affiliates, they run a lot of movies and other costly programming on Sunday afternoons with very little return. Something free from the network would be much easier to turn a profit on.
Another thought here: what if one of the new networks (CW or My) picked it up? If you look at those affiliates, they run a lot of movies and other costly programming on Sunday afternoons with very little return. Something free from the network would be much easier to turn a profit on.
tested said:
I'll second that. Before the NBC contract, we had just about every Arizona Rattlers game on the local UPN station (a Fox O&O). After the contract was signed, we got the NBC's choice game on Sunday afternoon, and it usually wasn't the Rattlers. Before long, I didn't even know when the Rattlers were playing because while the local station promoted the games, NBC seemed to do minimal promotion.
IMO, this is a good development for the AFL. The NBC contract set the league back.
tested said:
Adding to the thought that the AFL was nothing more than "filler" for NBC was the recent deals (beginning next spring) that will see added PGA and NHL coverage on NBC. Those deals made it obvious that NBC's spring weekends would be so full that there wouldn't be room for any AFL coverage.
Whether the AFL can now get a deal with a rights fee, the most important thing will still be a deal that gives the league a regular weekly TV presence. It's still MHO that the AFL's best option is on OLN/Versus. Not only were they "white knights" for the league this spring, their schedule is not filled with major sports (a la ESPN and broadcast nets) or local teams (a la FSN).
As for CW and MY... outside of WWE wrestling on CW, I don't imagine either of those networks are planning to have their own sports division. They'll probably be just content to allow their local affiliates to go after local teams' rights... including, in the case of the Arizona Rattlers, local AFL broadcasts.
Another reason NBC doesn't want the AFL is due to low ratings. So NBC was smart to say with PGA Golf and showing the AFL game in progress as I am sure golf gets better ratings. Also wasn't this the last season for the NHL on NBC which stared the season that the strike was which was a two year NBC deal I believe. So the NHL deal is up for grabs right? Also to add how was the ratings for the NHL on NBC during the season? If they were good NBC might just keep the NHL. Now as for the AFL maybe ABC could grab it but ESPN wouldn't show the AFL. Not sure if that would bother the NBA games on Sunday? But while speaking of the NBA whens that deal up because I would like to see NBC get the NBA back but the NBA can stay with ESPN.
The two-year NBC deal with the NHL was scheduled to begin last year (2004-2005 season). But since that season was cancelled due to the players lockout, the package started with the season just concluded, meaning the 2nd year of the deal will be next season (2006-2007). I'm not sure about the exact NBC ratings for this season (though I think it was just above AFL territory), but NBC must have had enough faith in the product's potential to actually add more NHL games next year. I think there will be 3 more regular season dates added to the previous 6, plus 4 more dates during the playoffs (someone correct this info if it is inacurate).
Darrel M said:
I wouldn't count out OLN as one TV partner, but I'd definitely hook up with a channel that already has great basic cable carriage.
I'd suggest a return to SpikeTV (AFL games were part of TNN's remake as 'The National Network'). They've made Ultimate Fighting and TNA pro-wrestling work well, and weekly AFL games would seem to fit their sports strategy.
J
Jul
Guest
NBC should air all NHL conference finals and Stanley Cup games next season.Darrel M said:
Julius May said:
The conference finals are in May..not gonna happen. Face it, hockey is a fringe sport now. We're lucky it gets as much coverage as it does.
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