VooDoo to have several radio and television broadcast partners
Published on January 7, 2005 under Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
New Orleans VooDoo News Release
The New Orleans VooDoo will be all over the airwaves both regionally and nationally for the 2005 regular season, which will kick off on Saturday, January 29 at Georgia. The team will have broadcast agreements with NBC, Cox Sports Television, FOX Sports Net Southwest, WWL (870 AM) Radio and WSMB (1350 AM) Radio.
"We think it's essential to witness the excitement of VooDoo football," said VooDoo executive director Mike Feder. "This is a tremendous comprehensive radio and television package. We feel it's essential for our fans to hear and see all of the action at the arena and on the road."
The Arena Football League has a contract with NBC to televise its national games and WDSU is scheduled to televise four games locally, including the home opener vs. the defending ArenaBowl champion San Jose SaberCats on Sunday, February 13 at 2 p.m., at the New Orleans Arena. NBC is also scheduled to carry contests against Philadelphia, Chicago and Colorado. The New Orleans marketplace was ranked first nationally among all NBC metered markets for Arena Football broadcasts in 2004.
Cox Sports Television, the VooDoo's local TV partner will carry eight games, this season, including the season opener against Georgia, which will be shown on tape delay. That game will air at 10:00 p.m., with a re-broadcast on Sunday (1/30) at 7:00 p.m. The remaining games on Cox Sports TV will be broadcast live including the game the following week at Nashville on Friday, February 4, at 7:30 p.m. Cox Sports TV will also show matchups with Tampa Bay, Orlando, Grand Rapids, and Austin.
Cox Sports Television will show an array of VooDoo related programming this off-season. Starting on January, 28 they will air a 30-minute coach's show with VooDoo Coach Mike Neu at 6 p.m. every Friday.
In order to expose football fans to the VooDoo, the team's new additions and upcoming opponents, Cox Sports TV will show four replays in the month of January, featuring VooDoo victories from the 2004 season. On Monday, January 10 at 6 p.m., Cox will broadcast a replay of last season's 45-31 victory over the Detroit Fury. This game will feature the VooDoo's top two free agent aquisitions of the past off-season, QB Andy Kelly and WR/LB Thabiti Davis, who both played for Detroit. The team's exciting, last minute 49-45 victory at ArenaBowl finalist Arizona can be viewed on Saturday, January 15 at 7 p.m. Other 2004 replays include the contest vs. Carolina on Saturday, January 22 at 7p.m. and last year's home win over the Georgia Force in which New Orleans Saints QB Aaron Brooks served as the color analyst. It can be seen on Tuesday, January 25 at 8:30 p.m.
FOX Sports Net has become the newest television partner of the Arena Football League. They will broadcast over 100 AFL games regionally. As part of this agreement, the VooDoo contests at Dallas on Saturday, March 5 and at Austin on Friday, April 1 will be available to fans locally on FOX Sports Southwest. Most FSN regional telecasts will take place on Fridays and Saturdays. In addition, FSN will continue producing and televising AFL Weekly, a weekly magazine program that premiered on the network last season. That show will air locally on FSN-Southwest on Mondays at 2:30.
"Our goal is to be the most fan-friendly league in the world, and we've taken a major step toward that with the FSN agreement," said AFL Commissioner David Baker. "Nearly 90 percent of AFL games will be broadcast either nationally or locally, which significantly increases the AFL's exposure and reach to our fans. We have a great national television partner in NBC, and now have the perfect regional partner in FSN."
All 16 VooDoo games can be heard throughout the Gulf South region on WSMB-AM 1350 or WWL-AM 870. Included in the game broadcasts will be a 30-minute pregame show, as well as a 30-minute post-game show. WWL is scheduled to broadcast three games, including the season opener at Georgia, the home opener on February 13th and the game on April 16th. The remainder of the games will be carried on WSMB. WWL will also broadcast a weekly coach's show with Mike Neu at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays starting on January 24. Chris Kenyon returns to handle play-by-play duties for the VooDoo.
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from January 7, 2005
- Gladiators sign former NFL QB Craig Whelihan, two others - Las Vegas Gladiators
- Force single game tickets on sale January 8 - Georgia Force
- VooDoo to have several radio and television broadcast partners - New Orleans VooDoo
- Rattlers Acquire Nikia Adderson From Georgia - Georgia Force
- Rush signs Peterson and Sodano - Chicago Rush
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.
