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During halftime of the Chicago-Indiana NBA
playoff game, Turner Broadcasting System and the
National Broadcasting Company announce they are
exploring the possibilty of creating a new
football league. "General Electric and Time
Warner announced tonight after several months of
extensive study that NBC and Turner broadcasting
are moving forward toward the creation of a new
professional football league. We have agreed
upon a clear vision of a working model and have
appointed Dick Ebersol of NBC and Harvey
Schiller of Turner Broadcasting to spearhead
this effort. Both parties anticipate a complete
announcement this fall," the statement said.
Having been shut out of the latest National
Football League television package, the
two networks have been discussing plans to
create and own a rival professional-football
league. NBC, which had been broadcasting
professional football for the last 33 years, and
Turner, which had been doing games for eight
years, passed on their chances to remain with
the NFL.
The proposed league would be owned and
operated by both networks and play could begin
as early as 1999. Plans call for as few as eight
and as many as twelve cities, choosing from the
likes of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston,
Philadelphia, Atlanta, Washington, Miami and San
Diego as well as mid-sized markets such as
Columbus, Raleigh, Salt Lake City, Providence,
Orlando and Birmingham. According to league
executives, they want to target the smaller
markets to ensure a strong fan base, which is
essential for survival. Rumors are strong,
however, that the only thing these cities have
in common is they have NBC owned and operated
stations. League representatives deny this
rumor. They also deny that the Fan Appreciation
League would be the name of the league. The name
Fan's Football League is still rumored to be a
possibility.
Plans are for twelve to sixteen game season,
starting in July or August to avoid competing
with the NFL, which starts in September.
Games are expected to be played on Sunday
afternoons on NBC and Sunday nights on Turner's
TNT. The league could also play games on
additional nights on either TNT or TBS. |
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NBC and Turner Sports execs met in San Antonio
this week to discuss their proposed spring
football league but remain weeks or perhaps
months away from a decision on whether to launch
in 2001.
NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, on his
meeting with Turner Sports President Harvey
Schiller and NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer
said, "We're still grinding it out. Harvey and
Kenny have met with eight, maybe nine of the 16
cities that have expressed interest."
For now, the proposed launch for the new
league is Memorial Day weekend in 2001, which
means NBC and Turner have until Thanksgiving or
perhaps early December to make their decision on
whether to proceed or not. |
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Turner and NBC gave up on the idea of the
proposed league after they worked out a $1.2
billion deal with NASCAR. The six-year contracts
begin in 2001 and would provide sports
programming for Sundays in July and August that
would have conflicted with the schedule of their
proposed summer football league.
In 2001, NBC joined forces with the World
Wrestling Federation and created the
XFL, of which Birmingham was a member. The
XFL did not appeal to football fans nor
wrestling fans in enough numbers and NBC found
itself on the end of the worst ratings in sports
television history. In spite of this, NBC and
the WWF allowed the XFL to complete its
inaugural season before folding the league. |
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