Arena Football League on ESPN

Infobox Television | show_name=Russell Athletic ESPN Arena Football


format = Sports
runtime = 3 hours
starring = (see below)
country = USA
network = ESPN (2007-)
ESPN2 (2007-)
ABC (2007-)
first_aired = March 4, 2007
last_aired = Present

"Russell Athletic ESPN Arena Football" is a presentation of the Arena Football League on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio and ESPN on ABC. The telecasts are simulcast on ESPNHD, ESPN2HD and ABC HD. The agreement will run from the 2007 season opener and lasts five years through the end of the 2011 season.

The official name for the ESPN2 Monday night games is called "ESPN Arena Football Monday presented by Russell Athletic".

History

ESPN was the original broadcaster for Arena Football games, showing games live in the league's first two seasons, 1987 and 1988. Partially because of turmoil within the league itself, ESPN did not broadcast Arena Football again until 1992, when they broadcast 6 games and the ArenaBowl on an overnight, tape delay basis. Starting in 1993, ESPN started showing games live or at least not during overnight hours. When ESPN2 was formed, the telecasts began to air more frequently on the new network.

ESPN2 began televising a more standard schedule of Arena Football League regular season and playoff games from 1995-1999.

ESPN subsequently began televising AFL playoff games from 2000-02.

It originally had aired the inaugural ArenaBowl live in 1987, while ABC aired the ArenaBowl five consecutive years from 1998–02.

Agreement

On December 19, 2006, ESPN and the Arena Football League agreed to a five-year agreement that includes extensive multimedia rights and a minimum of 26 televised games per season, beginning in 2007 and lasting until 2011. As part of the deal, ESPN purchased a minority stake, reportedly ten percent, in the AFL. The network will gain privileged financial information, but insists that it will not give the AFL more favorable coverage on shows like "SportsCenter" as a result. [ [http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6401201.html ESPN Buys Stake in the Arena Football League - 12/19/2006 11:35:00 AM - Broadcasting & Cable ] ]
ESPN will televise a minimum of 17 regular-season games and nine playoff games -- including a minimum of three Wild Card games, three Divisional Playoff games, both Conference Championships and the ArenaBowl on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. ESPN will also have an exclusive window for weekly Monday night primetime games on ESPN2. Both the season opener and ArenaBowl will be on ABC, where three wild card games, two divisional games and one conference championship will be on ESPN and the seventeen regular season Monday night games, one wild card game, two divisional games and one conference championship game will all be on ESPN2.

2007 schedule

*(All times Eastern) [http://www.arenafootball.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=20823&SPID=1563&DB_OEM_ID=3500&ATCLID=727002] *"Schedule change"

Personalities

Former broadcasters of the AFL on ESPN and ABC included Mike Gleason, Gary Danielson, Brent Musburger, Merril Hoge, and Holly Rowe.

2007

Early on, ESPN said they would use "some prominent faces in the broadcast booth" and ended up going with the popular duo of Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic from ESPN Radio and ESPN2's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" for their number one team. The second team will consist of "NFL Live"'s Trey Wingo and Mark Schlereth with the third being Ron Jaworski and Merril Hoge. On May 2007, Mark Jones replaced Jaworski, who focuses on his new "Monday Night Football" role. Jay Rothman, producer of "Monday Night Football", and Bryan Ryder will also produce the Monday night Arena Football games on ESPN2. The announcements were made on January 16, 2007. [ [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/local/orl-arena2006dec20,0,6508742.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines Topic Galleries - OrlandoSentinel.com ] ] [ [http://media.espn.com/ESPNToday/index.jsp?content=content.html ESPN MediaZone - A Resource for Media Professionals ] ] .

The other play-by-play announcer used on playoff games is Bob Wischusen.

2008

Pasch, Wischusen, and Bentley returned to their respective roles while Marcellus Wiley and Shaun King joined as color commentators. The highly publicized tandems of Greenberg-Golic and Wingo-Schlereth wouldn't reprise their roles as play-by-play men in 2008.

The replays of classic Arena Football games that had aired on ESPN Classic in 2007 would also be dropped in 2008. [ [http://www.arenafootball.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3500&KEY=&ATCLID=1393645 ESPN announces 2008 AFL talent] . Arena Football League. 26 February 2008.]

Controversy

Some AFL fans are complaining that the TV schedule “inequitably favors teams” such as the Philadelphia Soul, Chicago Rush, and Colorado Crush, teams whose ownerships include, respectively, Jon Bon Jovi, Mike Ditka and John Elway. 14 of the 17 ESPN games had at least Chicago, Philadelphia or Colorado playing. The Soul (whose part-owner and team president is former "AFL on ESPN" analyst Ron Jaworski) have appeared in seven of the 17 regular season games on ESPN platforms, more than any other team in the league. [ [http://www.cable360.net/cfax/ CableFAX ] ] This criticism was also present when NBC went out of their way to not let some teams appear on their schedule. In 2008, the Chicago Rush have nine regular season games on ESPN and ABC, while the 2007 Arena Bowl Champion San Jose SaberCats have just one, week one against the Chicago Rush, and the New York Dragons had 1, a 10:30 game versus the Colorado Crush. Other critisism includes the scheduling of games on various days and times, as opposed to a weekly AFL gameday.

ee also

*"The AFL on NBC"

References

* [http://www.arenafootball.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SID=20823&SPID=1563&DB_OEM_ID=3500&ATCLID=727002 2007 AFL on ESPN Schedule]
* [http://www.arenafootball.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3500&ATCLID=727455&SPID=1563 AFL, ESPN enter into five-year agreement]
* [http://media.espn.com/ESPNToday/index.jsp?content=content.html Press Release: MIKE AND MIKE TO CALL ARENA FOOTBALL GAMES; Also Wingo-Schlereth and Jaworski-Hoge]

External links

* [http://www.arenafootball.com AFL Official Website]
* [http://www.arenafan.com Arena Fan Online]