AFL to Air on NFL Network for Third Consecutive Year
October 3, 2011 - Arena Football League (AFL) News Release
TULSA - The Arena Football League will continue for its third consecutive season on NFL Network, AFL Commissioner Jerry B. Kurz announced today.
"To be paired with the NFL and NFL Network for our third season speaks volumes," AFL Commissioner Jerry B. Kurz said. "We saw a dramatic increase in our ratings over the course of last season. More people are learning about us, following us and becoming a part of the AFL family."
In the last two postseason games of the 2011 season, "Arena Football Friday" on NFL Network notched record high ratings. In the American Conference Championship game featuring the Georgia Force and Jacksonville Sharks on Monday, August 8, 2011, the AFL turned in a rating that increased 220 percent from the Conference Championship game in 2010. During ArenaBowl XXIV on Friday, August 12, the Sharks defeated the Arizona Rattlers, 73-70, in front of 14,320 fans at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, AZ. The broadcast marked a new record high rating, 164 percent more than ArenaBowl XXIII in 2010.
"Arena Football Friday has delivered the exciting, high scoring live action that we expected when we agreed to the partnership," said NFL Network programming director Lawrence Randall. "We look forward to celebrating the AFL's 25th season and third season of Friday night games on NFL Network."
The Arena Football League is entering its 25th season in 2012. After enhancing the schedule to a 20-week season in 2011, the League saw a 37.1 percent total increase of attendance throughout the 2011 campaign.
"I'm pleased," Kurz said. "We have always had a loyal following and the continued support from our fans is outstanding."
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Arena Football League Stories from October 3, 2011
- Philadelphia Adds Top AFL WR Anthony 'Tiger' Jones - Philadelphia Soul
- DB Travis Williams Returns to Spokane - Spokane Shock
- Second Tryout to be Held in Birmingham - Georgia Force
- Soul Add Record-Setting, All-League FB Derrick Ross - Philadelphia Soul
- Rattlers Sign Two SEC Defensive Linemen - Arizona Rattlers
- AFL to Air on NFL Network for Third Consecutive Year - AFL
- Georgia Force to Hold Tryout - Georgia Force
- Summers to Rejoin Sharks in 2012 - Jacksonville Sharks
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