Music/Entertainment 411 - December 2006

AFL & ESPN Enter Into Long-Term Agreement Equity, Multimedia And Football On Monday Nights Among Elements
Orlando Predators To Be Featured On First Monday Night Broadcast

ESPN and the Arena Football League have entered into a five-year agreement that includes extensive multimedia rights and a minimum of 26 televised games per season, beginning in 2007. ESPN has also purchased a minority ownership stake in the AFL as part of the agreement that enhances ESPN’s football programming lineup, the most comprehensive in sports television, with year-round football on Monday nights.

ESPN will televise a minimum of 17 regular-season games and nine playoff games -- including a minimum of three Wild Card games, three Divisional Playoff games, both Conference Championships and the ArenaBowl -- on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. ESPN will also have an exclusive window for weekly Monday night primetime games on ESPN2 -- continuing to establish Monday night as the “football night” for fans year-round.

“This is the longest and most comprehensive media partnership in AFL history,” said Commissioner David Baker. “ESPN’s brand is ingrained in sports fans, who watch, read and listen to its multiple media properties. Through its equity purchase, ESPN now owns a piece of the AFL and has the ability to provide exciting football content on Monday nights for fans on a year-round basis. There is no better partner to help continue the AFL’s growth as a leading global, multimedia property than ESPN."

Similar to recent major ESPN content acquisitions, the agreement entails a broad range of rights. Fifteen ESPN platforms will benefit from this new agreement, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN on ABC, ESPN Classic, ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD; ESPN.com; Spanish-language ESPN Deportes; ESPN360 (the company's growing interactive and customizable broadband service); Mobile ESPN Publishing (the company's wireless content licensing business); ESPN Radio, ESPN The Magazine and other ESPN-branded services (i.e., iPod, video-on-demand). ESPN also gains the right to both air and syndicate Arena Football League games through ESPN International.

“We are committed to the Arena Football League and its exciting brand of football. We will help grow the league across all of our multimedia platforms. As the league grows, so will our business, and we see a bright future for us both,” said John Skipper, executive vice president, content, ESPN.

ESPN’s 2007 AFL coverage will kick off on ABC with a pair of regional games – defending ArenaBowl champion Chicago Rush at Kansas City Brigade and Dallas Desperados at New York Dragons -- on Sunday, March 4 at 12:30 p.m. ET. ABC will broadcast ArenaBowl XXI live on Saturday, July 29 at 3 p.m. from New Orleans Arena as the city of New Orleans hosts its first team championship since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

For Orlando Predators fans, the agreement will have immediate impact. Orlando ’s home game with Los Angeles on March 12, 2007 will be the first Monday night broadcast in the ESPN package. Orlando will also be featured in the second Monday night broadcast on Monday, March 26, 2007. Both games will originate out of the Amway Arena in Orlando

“ESPN is the most significant brand in all sports and for the Arena Football League to integrate with that brand makes this the most important development in league history in my opinion,” Orlando Predators President Brett Bouchy said.  

2007 Arena Football League ESPN TV Schedule:  

ESPN will broadcast a minimum of three Wildcard games and three Divisional Playoff games listed above.