Arena Football League on ESPN
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| The Arena Football League on ESPN | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Sports |
| Starring | Mike Greenberg Mike Golic (for more, see below) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 3 hours |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ESPN (2007-) ESPN2 (2007-) ABC (2007-) |
| Original run | March 4, 2007 – Present |
The Arena Football League on ESPN is a presentation of the Arena Football League on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio and ESPN on ABC. The telecasts are also expected to be simucast on ESPNHD, ESPN2HD and ABC HD. The agreement will run from the 2007 season opener and last five years till the end of the 2011 season. The program is sponsored by Russell Athletic.
ESPN previously televised Arena Football League regular season and playoff games from 1995-1999, and most recently televised AFL playoff games from 2000-02. It also aired the inaugural ArenaBowl live in 1987, while ABC aired the ArenaBowl five consecutive years from 1998–2002.
The official name for the ESPN2 Monday night games is called ESPN2 Arena Football Monday presented by Russell Athletic.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] 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.[1] 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.
[edit] 2007 Schedule
- (All times Eastern)
[edit] Personalities
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. 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.[2][3]
| Team | Play-by-Play | Analyst(s) | Field Reporter | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Greenberg | Mike Golic | Jay Rothman Bryan Ryder |
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| 2 | Trey Wingo | Mark Schlereth | ||
| 3 | Ron Jaworski | Merril Hoge |
Former broadcasters of the AFL on ESPN and ABC included Mike Gleason, Gary Danielson, Brent Musburger, Merril Hoge, and Holly Rowe.
[edit] Controversy
Already 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. The Soul (whose part-owner and team president is AFL on ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski) will appear in seven of the at least 17 games on ESPN platforms, more than any other team in the league.[4] This criticism was also present when NBC went out of their way to not let some teams appear on their schedule.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6401201.html
- ^ http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/local/orl-arena2006dec20,0,6508742.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines
- ^ http://media.espn.com/ESPNToday/index.jsp?content=content.html
- ^ http://www.cable360.net/cfax/
- 2007 AFL on ESPN Schedule
- AFL, ESPN enter into five-year agreement
- Press Release: MIKE AND MIKE TO CALL ARENA FOOTBALL GAMES; Also Wingo-Schlereth and Jaworski-Hoge
