Arena Football League on ABC was the de facto title for broadcasts of Arena Football League (AFL) games on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network. ABC was the first major television network in the United States to give exposureMay 13, 1998 - That experimental air continues even as ABC is preparing to give this August's season ending ArenaBowl its first network television coverage and NFL owners consider making the indoor game a developmental league in Europe. For this reason Bruce Frey of Palm Beach Gardens has been ... to the Arena Football League. Prior to 1998,Feb 5, 1998 - The league is also expected to announce that ABC will broadcast the championship ArenaBowl on Aug. 23. Vallozzi also said he and the Mustangs are trying to work out a deal with the Green Bay Packers to have the Mustangs' training camp, which is April 9-24, at the Don Hutson Center.Feb 21, 1998 - The Arena Football League took a prime step forward with the announcement of a new television agreement that will put the championship game, Arena Bowl XII, on ABC and eight regular-season games into live, prime-time slots on ESPN2. The two- year contract extension calls for 20 games on ... when ABC televised ArenaBowl XII, the most exposure that the league would receive was on ESPN, which would air tape-delayed games, often well after midnight.
Background ABC's coverage of the AFL was usually relegated to solely the annual championship game, the ArenaBowl. From 1998-2002, ABC's ArenaBowl broadcasts were aired as under the Wide World of SportsNov 20, 1999 - The AFL has had regular season games televised on ABC ESPN in recent years For the last two years ABC has shown the ArenaBowl live on Wide World of Sports a breakthrough for the ever growing AFL. SCOTTSDALE Ariz The Phoenix Coyotes traded Mikhail Shtalenkov the NHL's player of the month in ... anthology umbrella.
Following a four-year spell with NBC, coverage of the AFL would resume on ABC in 2007. As part of a five-year deal with sister network ESPN, a minimum of 17 regular-season games and nine playoff games—including a minimum of three Wild Card games were televised. Also televised were three Divisional Playoff games, both Conference Championships and the ArenaBowl on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. To clarify, both the 2007 season opener and ArenaBowl were on ABC, where three wild card games, two divisional games and one conference championship were on ESPN and the seventeen regular season Monday night games, one wild card game, two divisional games and one conference championship game was all on ESPN2. This particular arrangement with ABC was again in place in 2008 before NFL Network took over the broadcasting rights for the ArenaBowl for the next three seasons.
In 2017, the ArenaBowl was televised by WPVI-TV, ABC's owned-and-operated station in Philadelphia. The game was also streamed on Twitter and AFLNow, the league's streaming service.
Commentators
Mike Adamle (play-by-play, 1998) Ray Bentley (color commentator, 2008) Sherdrick Bonner (color commentator, 2017) Tim Brant (play-by-play, 2002) Ed Cunningham (color commentator, 2000 & 2002) Gary Danielson (color commentator) Mike GleasonAug 21, 1999 - For the second straight year, the ArenaBowl will be carried by ABC. It will be seen locally on WTEN (Ch. 10). Mike Gleason and Merril Hoge, who called last Saturday's semifinal game between the Firebirds and the Arizona Rattlers on ESPN2, will call the game. ABC will use between 12 and ... (play-by-play, 1999–2000) Mike Golic (color commentator, 2007) Mike Greenberg (play-by-play, 2007) Merril Hoge (color commentator, 1998–1999) Brent Musburger (play-by-play, 2001) Lynn Swann (sideline reporter, 2001–2002) Stan Verrett (sideline reporter, 2007) Marcellus Wiley (sideline reporter, 2007) Bob Wischusen (play-by-play, 2008) Ari Wolfe (play-by-play, 2017)
See also List of events broadcast on Wide World of Sports (American TV program)
References
External links Wide World of Sports Events