Georgia Force have strong showing on TV and in stands
February 9, 2004 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Georgia Force News Release
ATLANTA, GA. â The Georgia Force saw many successes in Week 1 of the 2004 Arena Football League season as the team kicked off just their third season and second in metro Atlanta. For the second straight season, the Force played to a sellout crowd of 11,200 fans in the Arena at Gwinnett Center for their home opener. Along with the thousands in attendance, the Force scored a 2.1 overnight television rating on WXIA Channel 11 (NBC).
The Force's 2.1 rating fared strong while competing against the NHL All-Star game, PGA golf and the NBA and out-drew NCAA basketball that gained a 1.1 rating. The season two kickoff of the "AFL on NBC" on Sunday, Feb. 8 (3-6 p.m. ET) posted a 2.5 overnight rating/5 share for regionalized coverage of five games, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 2.5 rating represents a 14 percent increase over the 2.2 overnight rating/5 share the network earned for last year's inaugural broadcast of the "AFL on NBC" (2/9/03). National ratings are expected to be available on Thursday, Feb. 12.
The Force were one of only three teams in the league to record a sellout in Week 1 as the AFL saw attendance numbers soar. Attendance for the first week of the 2004 AFL season broke four records and was up nine percent vs. the first week of the 2003 season, and up 25 percent vs. the 2003 season average. The gross attendance of 128,175 and average per game attendance of 14,242 broke four previous records: highest Week 1 total, highest Week 1 average, highest total for any week, and highest average for any week. Along with the Force, there were sellouts in Colorado (18,063) and Philadelphia (17,484), and Indiana set a franchise attendance record with 14,007 fans Saturday night, the most in their 15-year history.
The Georgia Force travel to Tampa this week to face the defending AFL World Champion Tampa Bay Storm on Friday, February 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the St. Pete Times Forum. A network-TV sport, the AFL celebrates its 2nd season on NBC in 2004. Season tickets and flex packs are on sale and can be purchased with a credit card by calling (770) 813-7610 or visit www.georgiaforce.com. Force individual game tickets are available by calling TicketMaster at (404) 249-6400 or visit www.ticketmaster.com or by purchase at the Gwinnett Civic Center Box Office.
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