Arena Football League Sued By NBC Over '06 Advertising Revenue

NBC filed a lawsuit against the AFL in New York State Supreme Court on December 15, claiming that the network “issued the AFL invoices on advertising revenue that the league collected” between March-June ‘06 from ADT Security Systems, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority and Electronic Arts, according to Tripp Mickle of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. NBC and the AFL had a revenue-sharing agreement under which the league “collected money from its sponsors and was required to pay NBC for those sponsors’ advertising units so that the network could recoup production costs and calculate the amount of net ad revenue the partners would share.” According to the complaint, that invoicing and collection process “worked from 2003-2005, but after NBC told the AFL in March 2006 that it didn’t want to extend its agreement with the league, the AFL stopped paying the network.” The lawsuit "seeks a minimum of the invoiced total, as well as interest, legal fees and costs" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/22 issue).