AFL on NBC

:"This page is about the Arena Football League's AFL on NBC program that started in 2003. It is not to be confused with the American Football League on NBC which was televised in the 1960s" "The AFL on NBC" is a TV program from NBC Sports that showed Arena Football League games from the 2003 season through 2006. The pre-game, halftime, and post-game studio show was anchored by Al Trautwig and analyst Glenn Parker since its inception. In 2003, Michael Irvin also provided studio analysis, but that role was subsequently filled with guest analysts, including Ray Bentley, Danny White, Tommy Maddox, and Kurt Warner.

Game commentary

Game commentary was provided by two major teams, with the lead consisting of play-by-play announcer Tom Hammond and analyst Pat Haden, with sideline reporter Lewis Johnson. The other included Bob Papa (play-by-play), Ray Bentley (analyst) and Marty Snider (sideline reporter). Additional talent included (often in different pairings) play-by-play announcers Eli Gold, Bill Weber, and Allen Bestwick, as well as color commentators Mike Pawlawski and Charles Davis, and sideline reporter Steve Wrigley.

Criticism

NBC's coverage received sharp criticism from some long time AFL fans and owners like Jon Bon Jovi ( [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11049901/page/2/ Quotes from Bon Jovi about lack of league promotion] ] ). The complaints were mostly because NBC had severely cut back from their initial promotion of the AFL in 2003 and 2004, to barely promoting it at all in 2005 and 2006. NBC also tended to only broadcast select teams - the Philadelphia Soul, Chicago Rush, Colorado Crush, and the Dallas Desperados, while smaller market teams such as the Austin Wranglers, San Jose Sabercats, and the now-relocated Buffalo Destroyers were left in the dark.

Music

The program was advertised with TV commercials with John Elway and with the song "Rumble" by Bon Jovi, the band fronted by Philadelphia Soul owner Jon Bon Jovi. The text of the song goes::"Come on feel the thunder.":"There's a rumble in the house!"The song was published by the Universal Music Group in a Bon Jovi CD called "There's A Rumble In The House!"

2006 season

In 2006, due to the XX Winter Olympic Games, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Daytona 500, NBC scaled back from weekly coverage to scattered coverage during the regular season, but an extensive playoff schedule ending with the 20th ArenaBowl. For that season, some games were moved to OLN, now known as Versus.

=Ratings=

The 2006 ArenaBowl on NBC earned the network a considerably disappointing 0.7% of the U.S. households. The small audience for the 2006 ArenaBowl was the culmination of a season that earned NBC 0.9% of the U.S. households. In sharp comparsion to the 2006 season, the first season of "The AFL on NBC" earned 1.1%.

The end of "The AFL on NBC"

On June 30, 2006, the Arena Football League and NBC Sports failed to reach an agreement to extend their broadcasting contract, thus effectively ending "The AFL on NBC" program. AFL commissioner David Baker said "NBC has been a great partner. We are forever grateful to them for exhibiting our game with the utmost respect and integrity. We wish them well, but are also excited to begin a new chapter that will continue our unprecedented growth."

NBC Sports president Ken Schanzer said "Unfortunately we were unable to reach an agreement. We've enjoyed our partnership with the Arena Football League. It's a great game with great people. We wish them all the best." In an interview with the New York Times, NBC spokesman Mike McCarley said, "We gave Arena Football our best effort, with top production and significant promotion, but the ratings never grew."

During an August 2006 segment of Larry King's interview with owner Jon Bon Jovi, a new deal was hinted at being in development, one superior to NBC's. In December 2006, a deal was struck with ABC/ESPN to broadcast AFL regular season and playoff games. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2702195 ESPN - ESPN acquires minority stake, TV rights in AFL - ESPN ] ] ESPN also assumed partial ownership of the league itself.

References

External links

* [http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=channel%3Anbc+title%3Aarena+title%3Afootball Google Video Search] Arena football on google video
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032736/ AFL - MSNBC.com]
* [http://www.arenafan.com/news/?page=ratings ArenaFan - AFL on NBC Nielsen Ratings]
* [http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/2006/06/once_you_get_re.html NBC severes ties with Arena Football]