Quad City Steamwheelers First Three Home Games to be Broadcast Live on KWQC-TV6

March 20, 2006 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release


(Davenport, IA) - The Quad City Steamwheelers and KWQC-TV6, the NBC affiliate in the Quad Cities, announced an agreement today to broadcast the first three, regular season home games played on Othropaedic Specialists Field at The MARK of the Quad Cities. The telecasts will air live on KWQC-TV6 with commentary provided by KWQC-TV6's Sports Director, Thom Cornelis.

"We are proud to partner with KWQC-TV6 to bring these games live to the Quad Cities as well as eastern Iowa and western Illinois," said Larry Bush, majority partner/operator of the Quad City Steamwheelers. "This will be a first for us and the first time a Quad City area sports team will have multiple home games televised live in prime time on a local, NBC affiliate. NBC already carries AFL games making this partnership a ‘natural'. These telecasts will not only be exciting for our players, but for the fans at the game as well," Bush continued. "The broadcast will reach a wide viewing audience and will expose viewers to the excitement that happens both on and off the Arena Football field."

KWQC-TV6's coverage will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 31 when the Steamwheelers face the Arkansas Twisters. KWQC-TV6 will also broadcast home games against the Green Bay Blizzard (April 15) and the Stockton, Calif., Lightning (April 22). Each game televised will feature an in-depth 15 minute pre-game show, as well as a post game wrap-up show leading into the #1 rated TV newscast in the Quad Cities at 10:00 p.m.

Local Production An Exciting Challenge

"We started discussing this opportunity months ago," explained Jim Graham, KWQC- TV6's General Manager. "A production team from our station worked closely with the Steamwheeler's front office to pull all of this together."

The production team from the station involve many departments; including engineering, production, promotion and news, synchronizing their efforts with the team's game operations staff and support personnel from The MARK. A group from KWQC-TV6 and the Steamwheelers traveled to Chicago in early February to take a "backstage tour" at a Chicago Rush (AFL Affiliate) game to see how they managed their telecasts. Production Director Jeff Bilyeu, veteran producer of the Festival of Trees Parade and Bix 7 Run telecasts is quoted as saying: "KWQC-TV6 has always had a commitment to the highest quality, local productions, that can be produced for our viewers. This will be a fun challenge for us."

A Game Worth Televising

"Anyone that has been to an Arena Football game knows just how fast paced and exciting they are," explained Jim Foster minority partner/operator of the Steamwheelers and founder of Arena Football. "This three game TV package gives us an excellent vehicle to deliver that experience to a broad viewer ship base of over 1.5 million people far beyond the immediate Quad Cities. The Iowa Barnstormers, a former AFL team, drew over 35% of its audience from outside metro Des Moines thanks to having many of their home games televised live on ESPN and ESPN2. While we draw some of our fans from outlying communities and beyond that number will escalate as a result of the game on KWQC-TV6."

Expanding the Audience

Both Bush and Foster agree on the importance of the KWQC-TV6 telecasts in broadening the appeal of the Steamwheelers in the market. "We saw interest in the team pick up after each of our live national prime time Arena Cup telecasts," explained Foster. "Unfortunately, those were championship games that closed out our season. These telecasts are early season home games and if people like what they see; they can come down to The MARK and watch additional 2006 games live and in person."

"We want people to consider a Steamwheelers game as an affordable option when they're looking for something to do," continued Bush. "But being affordable doesn't help if people don't know how much fun these games are."

"And if these games are anything, they're fun."

Ticket Information

Season and specially discounted group tickets for the Quad City Steamwheelers are on sale now. Season tickets start for as little as $80 a ticket for adults and $40 for children 14 and under. For information on season and group tickets contact the Steamwheelers at (563) 324-4888 or toll-free at 1-866-STEAMTIX. Single game tickets go on sale at The MARK of the Quad City box office and all TicketMaster locations starting on Monday, March 20 at 10:00 a.m.



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