Some time in the next few months, NBC Sports and Turner
Broadcasting "will make a decision" on whether to start a
football league in the fall of '99 to "challenge" the NFL,
according to the WASHINGTON POST's Leonard Shapiro. Shapiro
reports that network execs, marketing experts and number
crunchers from both broadcast divisions as well as their
parent companies -- GE and Time Warner -- "are exploring the
options and listening to sales pitches from people who
believe the time may be right to take on the NFL." Fox
analyst John Madden: "I think it would work very well for a
number of reasons. Number one, there are a couple of
networks to put it on. ... There are stadiums and cities
available, and with free agency, players will be available,
too. It can work." NFLPA Exec Dir Gene Upshaw said the new
league could work "because if those two companies decide to
do it, they'll do it right" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/17).
HOW TO: NBC/Turner are "exploring a 10- to 12-team
league that would go head-to-head with the NFL in the fall.
Games would be played on Sunday afternoons, to be aired by
NBC, and Sunday night and possibly one weekday night,
covered by one of Turner's cable outlets, most likely TNT."
Shapiro reports that the two companies would "want to put
teams in major markets," to attract better ratings and
"major sponsors." To "succeed," Shapiro writes that the two
networks would have to oversee a centralized single-entity
league, like MLS and the WNBA. There would need to be a
"strong commissioner" in charge of a central league office
and a COO for each franchise (WASHINGTON POST, 3/17).
