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AFL I Arena Football League (1987-2008)

NBC Sports' Schanzer on AFL: "A Game Built For The Time In Which We Live."

January 27, 2005 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I) News Release


NEW YORK – Jan. 27, 2005 – NBC Sports kicks off year three as the exclusive broadcast partner of the Arena Football League (AFL) this Sunday at noon ET with a doubleheader featuring regional coverage of five games. The lead broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Tom Hammond, analyst Pat Haden and sideline reporter Lewis Johnson will call the Chicago Rush at Dallas Desperados game at 3 p.m. ET. Mike Ditka, part-owner of the Rush, will be featured at halftime in a two-way interview from Dallas.

The other four games are:

Noon ET

Colorado Crush @ Orlando Predators: Bob Papa (play-by-play), Ray Bentley (analyst) and Marty Snider (reporter)

Philadelphia Soul @ Austin Wranglers: Bill Weber (play-by-play), Mike Pawlaski (analyst) and Roger Wallace (reporter)

3 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Avengers @ Las Vegas Gladiators: Eli Gold (play-by-play), Charles Arbuckle (analyst) Mitch Roberts (reporter)

San Jose Sabercats @ Tampa Bay Storm: Allen Bestwick (play-by-play), Charles Davis (analyst) and JP Peterson (reporter)

NBC today conducted a conference call with NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer, game analyst Ray Bentley and coordinating producer David Gibson. A replay of the call will be available until 3 p.m. tomorrow by dialing 719/457-0820 and entering confirmation code 3408374. Following are highlights from that call:

NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer

"A GAME BUILT FOR THE TIME IN WHICH WE LIVE": "The AFL is one of the most highly-charged games on the air. This is a game built for the time in which we live. If you were going to design a game to appeal to today's fan, Arena Football would be that game."

CHALLENGE AS BROADCASTERS: "The challenge as broadcasters is to capture the excitement of the Arena on television because anyone who has been to an arena game understands why the fan base is so intense."

ON PLAYER ACCESS: "It's hard to imagine a league opening up more to its fans. These players are probably as available and cooperative as any athletes we deal with the whole year."

ON VIABILITY OF AFL: "The critical thing for us is that we are in the business of making money and we still make money on this. In a world in which most major networks lose money on most of their major properties, when you get a property that can make a little money, that's where you want to be."

ON HIGH PROFILE OWNERS BON JOVI, ELWAY, MCGRAW AND DITKA: "Clearly the high-profile owners bring attention to the sport, but this is not so much that you have the high-profile owners, but how involved they are in the day-to-day operations of the franchises. They like the sport; they are prepared to put their dollars behind it because they believe in the long-term success of the property."

ON PROMOTING AFL STARS: "First we wanted to make people aware of the game and its existence. Now it's time to let the stars of the League shine."

Analyst Ray Bentley

BEING A MEMBER OF TWO SUPER BOWL LOSING BILLS TEAMS: "The last three ArenaBowls they (Arizona Rattlers) have been in they've lost. I've played for the Buffalo Bills so I know how that feels."

ON NUANCES OF AFL GAME: "The one thing I love about this game is that it's football we all played as kids."

ON COLORADO OFFENSIVE SPECIALIST DAMIAN HARRELL: "Damian Harrell is one of the top offensive specialists in this league. This guy is like a human highlight film. He makes unbelievable circus-type catches all over the place."

Producer David Gibson

ON STARBUILDING: "For the season we are going to continue to push the envelope in our efforts to introduce the game and the players to new viewers. Some of these athletes are true superstars and we are committed to turning these star players into household names."

The AFL on NBC's studio show will again feature Al Trautwig as host, Glenn Parker as analyst and rotating special guest analysts. Former NFL QB Danny White, who led the Dallas Cowboys to five playoff appearances and served as the coach/GM of the AFL's Arizona Rattlers for 13 seasons, will be this season's first in-studio guest analyst on Sunday.



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from January 27, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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