ESPN Takes AFL Stake

December 19, 2006 World Screen

NEW YORK, December 19: ESPN has
taken a minority stake in the Arena Football League as part of a five-year deal
announced today granting the sports broadcaster a minimum of 26 televised games
per season.

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 prime-time games on ESPN2.

ESPN’s 2007 AFL coverage will kick
off on ABC on Sunday, March 4 at 12:30 p.m. The AFL is a 19-team indoor league.
Its previous network broadcast deal was with NBC, which elected not to renew
the contract after the 2006 season.