NBC Sports Group has bought the All-American Bowl, a high school all-star football game that occurs every January. The broadcaster bought the game from All American Games. The deal follows NBC’s strategy of becoming the exclusive owner and operator of smaller properties, such as the American Century Championship, PNC Father/Son Challenge, National Dog Show and Beverly Hills Dog Show. “The idea is to find windows for live sports properties that we can own and develop,” said NBC Sports President of Programming Jon Miller. NBC execs say the deal was for “seven figures.”
NBC Sports Group will oversee the game’s day-to-day operations, which include a “selection tour” process to identify high-school players that will participate and a combine that has attracted around 600 high school juniors in the past. NBC will send a crew on the selection tour and use the footage for shoulder programming that it will carry on NBC and NBCSN, its digital properties and its local broadcast affiliates. “It’s great content,” said NBC Sports VP/Programming Gary Quinn. “We think we can take it to the next level. We want to dig in with storytelling around the game and the athletes.” Quinn and All American Games Chair Doug Berman led the negotiations.
NBC has carried the game on the first Saturday afternoon of the year since '04. It is held every year in the Alamodome in San Antonio. The most recent game averaged more than 3 million viewers, which NBC says is the biggest TV audience to watch a high school sporting event in '19. In its 19-year history, the game has featured future college and NFL stars like Tim Tebow, Andrew Luck, Odell Beckham Jr., Reggie Bush and Vince Young.
