Disney Now Dabbling In Pro Football Ownership

[Radiobarry]

ESPN announced this week that they have buffeted their pro football presence and their lineup on Monday nights, by acquiring what is believed to be a 10 per cent share of ownership in the Arena Football League.

ESPN, which is 80 per cent owned by the Walt Disney Company, signed a five-year deal giving themselves extensive multi-media rights and at least 26 televised games per year.

This from espn.com...

"We are committed to the Arena Football League and its exciting brand of football," John Skipper, executive vice president for content at ESPN, said in a statement. "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."

Similar to recent major ESPN content acquisitions, the agreement entails a broad range of rights among the network's 15 platforms, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN on ABC, ESPN Classic, ESPN.com, Spanish-language ESPN Deportes and ESPN360. ESPN also gains the right to both air and syndicate AFL games through ESPN International.

ESPN will televise a minimum of 17 regular-season games and nine playoff games -- including a minimum three wild-card games, three divisional playoff games, both conference championships and the Arena Bowl -- on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

ESPN officials say that their minority ownership in the league will in no way affect the way they treat the league during its "news programs" like SportsCenter.

(It should be pointed out that to the best of my knowledge, the Arena League is rarely if ever mentioned on SportsCenter...my guess is, that will change...)

--Barry

[cellarhound]

I agree with you... It is going to boost arena football... And it is absolutely shamefull that poker competitions get better play than the NHL Hockey on ESPN... WTF?

[devkxl]

Arena Football should get recognition they are athletics who love to play the game

[sir clinksalot]

Good for them. I think Arena football is very fun to watch.

Take off the billiards, darts and fishing and put some real sports on.

[cellarhound]

Good for them. I think Arena football is very fun to watch.

Take off the billiards, darts and fishing and put some real sports on.

Like ICE HOCKEY!!!

[cellarhound]

Also, I forgot, ESPN is also now a Major Sponsor to Nascar... Who is likely to rename the Busch Series after ESPN...

[Disneyland Daddy]

So what will they be called? The Fighting Mouseketeers? I can see it now 'Ears on their helmets and all..."

[cellarhound]

I think it is just league ownership... Not of a franchise...

[dramaqueen]

So what will they be called? The Fighting Mouseketeers? I can see it now 'Ears on their helmets and all..."

Cause Disney has a DISASTEROUS history with sports ownership. The Anaheim Angels, what a freakin' joke!

[cellarhound]

Cause Disney has a DISASTEROUS history with sports ownership. The Anaheim Angels, what a freakin' joke!

DQ, they won the world series, didn't they? What more could Eisner want? Sheesh!

This is a sports team not the film industry... He didn't know what he was doing... He wanted to build a sports theme park over by the sports complex and tie it in with ESPN... Connect it with a monorail... And have this synergy thing going on...

What drove him mad was spending millions of dollars on a best players that would get injured and out for a season or so... He saw it as a bad investment... It isn't a bad investment if you get the right GM running a team...

You can't simply go into your managment base and pull any cost accountaint to run it... It isn't about clever marketing... You have to go to a baseball guy to run a baseball team... And let what is on the score board be your marketing pitch (no pun intended)...

As for the Mighty Ducks, they won a cup! They where always in profit... The only reason why they sold it was the impending strike... Then Disney OVER REACTED... The whole company, including ESPN, dropped Ice Hockey like a hot potato... It was the dumbest move EVER!

[dramaqueen]

DQ, they won the world series, didn't they? What more could Eisner want? Sheesh!

I was attempting to be sarcastic, I guess it didn't work

The point I was trying to make is one you pretty much made for me. Disney-owned teams have always done pretty well, if you call winnig championships doing pretty well. Not to mention the association people have with Disney and great sports films. Disney just flat out knows how to market sports. I think this will be a great thing for Arena Football, which is a great sport by the way. It deserves a much larger following, its much more entertaining, IMHO, than the NFL.

[cellarhound]

It deserves a much larger following, its much more entertaining, IMHO, than the NFL.

It's a higher scoring game with a faster pace... and it produced a certain QB by the name Brady... Not bad, I'll say...

I remember arena soccar too, which was nice but the goal was way too small... If it was actuall bigger than a regulation goal to allow more scoreable area, compensate this with a large goal tending area, I think the game would have had a faster pace too... Instead it was way too dinky...

[MickeyMania]

Arena Ball LOL

[dramaqueen]

Care to expand on that eloquent opinion?