Steamwheelers and Mediacom Partner Up Again
June 3, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Quad City Steamwheelers News Release
DAVENPORT, Iowa â As the old saying goes, "if it plays well in Peoria, you can move on to the big stage." In this particular case, playing well in Peoria has translated into playing on television for the Quad City Steamwheelers for a second time in 2004, but this time from legendary Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky.
Mediacom of the Quad Cities has decided to go ahead with the televising of a second 2004 Steamwheelers regular season road game with the airing of the Louisville Fire game Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. CDT.
According to Mediacom Regional Vice President Scott Westerman, the response to the first game televised from Peoria, Ill., on May 7, was excellent.
Steamwheelers Managing Owner/Operator Jim Foster said his team received dozens of emails, notes and phone calls from places throughout Iowa, including Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Dubuque as well as western Illinois communities.
Many of the respondents knew little about the Steamwheelers and were enthused with what they viewed. It has resulted in a number of new ticket sales for the team already.
The Louisville game was targeted for the second telecast given the similar records of both teams atop the National Conference and Midwest Division.
An estimated 400,000 plus viewers took in the Peoria game action, which aired throughout eastern Iowa from Dubuque to Burlington, much of western Illinois across the Mississippi River and west into Iowa including Cedar Rapids-Iowa City markets and the central Iowa-Des Moines area markets. The same markets will receive the Louisville telecasts. (Channel listings are below).
This game has major playoff implications as the winner of the division earns an automatic berth in the ArenaCup playoffs. The two teams are ranked two and three in the latest af2 Coaches' Poll. The Steamwheelers are No. 2 and the Fire are No. 3.
Rob Brooks of Cedar Rapids will again do the play-by-play call. Brooks, the son of long-time, well-known Cedar Rapids based broadcaster Bob Brooks, has done a number of key college and high school games around the Midwest in addition to work for ESPN and ESPN2.
Like the Peoria game, the production will use at least five cameras and even larger production truck than used in Peoria, according to Westerman. He also said that the broadcast will be similar to "what you would see on Fox Sports Chicago."
The Steamwheelers were on two national broadcasts when they hosted the 2000 and 2001 ArenaCup championship games. They also picked up the feed of a Tulsa broadcast in 2002 when the Talons were in the Quad Cities at The MARK.
Channels that the game will be broadcast on: Quad Cities Interconnect (which includes the Quad City area, Burlington, Clinton, Maquoketa, and everyone listed above on the Illinois side of the river) will have the game on Channel 2 or 78. In Des Moines, the game will air on Channel 22; in Cedar Rapids the game will air on Channel 10; in Iowa City, Channel 68; in Dubuque, Channel 18.
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