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League turns down big bucks from the networks to televise live games
By Cam Inman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Deion Sanders is on the phone, thanking the NFL Network for hiring him as an analyst and "giving me a chance to do what I'm blessed to do."
Bryant Gumbel is in the headlines, having ridiculed players union chief Gene Upshaw's relationship with Paul Tagliabue and thus jeopardizing Gumbel's status as a play-by-play man for the NFL Network's foray into regular-season game telecasts.
Rich Eisen is smiling in amazement as he walks through the NFL Network's Culver City studio, marveling at the new faces that have surrounded him since he became the network's cover boy upon its 2003 inception.
Take all these recent snapshots and sound bites and you start picturing what's brewing with the league-run network.
"It's a very exciting time here," Eisen said earlier this summer upon showing up at work, he being host of the network's signature show, "NFL Total Access."
"It's going to be awesome," adds former 49ers and Detroit Lions coach Steve Mariucci, another newly hired NFL Network analyst.
If die-hard fans haven't yet taken notice of the NFL's 24-hour channel, they likely will by Thanksgiving. That's when the first of eight prime-time games will be shown on the channel, which is available primarily on special cable and satellite packages. Rather than rake in more loot from an outside network, NFL owners opted Jan. 28 to keep for themselves the package of prime-time games that will air on Thursdays and Saturdays in the closing weeks of the regular season.
"It's very meaningful that we're going to show our games on the network," Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
Also new on the programming docket:
• A Sunday night, 90-minute highlight show, "NFL GameDay." Eisen, Mariucci and Sanders will chaperon the show featuring game footage, locker-room interviews and on-field audio.
• For the first time, NFL games will be rebroadcast within days of their live airing, albeit in a 90-minute director's cut. Four games will be shown each week, two on Tuesday nights and two on Thursday nights.
• College football is coming to NFL Network. An eight-hour show is slated for Saturday nights to provide highlights, news and analysis, including that of NFL draft expert Mike Mayock, who has a big fan in Raiders managing general partner Al Davis. To handle the additional programming, NFL Network has been constructing a second sound stage next to its original one across the parking lot from its expanding offices in Culver City.
As construction crews remodel the cramped complex that used to house a dot-com company and is just down the street from Sony Pictures, it's easy to see the NFL's determination to carve yet another niche in Hollywood, even if it can't quite figure a way to get an actual team in town.
"It really has a chance to have a special place with our fans," Jones said.
"It is a tremendous promotional tool," 49ers owner John York said. "With it being our own, we can do things no one else is capable to do."
But York knows this can't be just an outlet for NFL propaganda. "It will not be bought by the public if it's not real, and it can't be staged," York said. "You have to have the good and bad (opinions)."
Gumbel certainly tested that theory last month, when he suggested on an HBO show that Tagliabue show incoming commissioner Roger Goodell the "leash" that guided Upshaw through labor talks. Tagliabue sent a verbal shot back at Gumbel, and although the NFL Network got needed publicity out of the spat, it still raised the question of whether the right of free speech exists with the upstart network.
"I don't think we're going to be censored," Sanders said. "Their desire is for us to be who we are. They hired Deion Sanders because they want his opinion."
And the league wants a nice return on its investment, something York and Davis expect to happen, which could help low-revenue teams.
"We gave up a paying network to let this thing grow," Davis said, referring to turning down OLN's potential bid for the eight-game package. "You have to take into consideration we (make) four to five billion (dollars) a year from TV. This thing, if we had done it with a network, would have brought us four million a team ($128 million). But we gave that up to make this thing grow fast. It's going to be a very valuable product and piece of property."
Mariucci, even with a $25 million war chest from his coaching gig with the Lions, will fly weekly from his Michigan home to Southern California so he can appear on the Sunday night highlights show and Monday's "NFL Total Access."
"It's going to be fun, plus all those frequent-flier miles," Mariucci quipped.
Sanders, who left CBS two years ago to resume his playing career with the Baltimore Ravens, is excited about the extra access to players and coaches he'll have because he is working for a league-run network.
"It allows us to go more in-depth than other networks," Sanders said.
Another probable Hall of Famer joined the network this summer in St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk, who has yet to announce his retirement. He appears on "NFL Total Access" with Eisen and Rod Woodson, who retired from the Raiders after 2003 and lives in Pleasanton.
The Raiders' Davis, an avid watcher of the NFL Network's scouting-combine coverage, suggested gauging the network's progress by comparing its growth with that of ESPN's after five years. NFL Network, 33 months old, states it's in 41 million homes and that ESPN was in 43.4 million homes when it began carrying NFL games in 1987, that network's eighth year.
The NFL Network has built part of its foundation with two key men who have ESPN roots -- Steve Bornstein and Eisen.
Bornstein, the NFL Network's CEO, is the behind-the-scenes power broker who convinced owners to cough up the eight-game package. His office is decorated with sports Emmy Awards, including the first one NFL Network won -- a 2004 trophy now glued to his coffee table.
Eisen, a former ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor, offers up an easy-talking, unpretentious style that's made him the face of NFL Network.
GOT NFLN?
Regular-season games will be shown for the first time on the league-run NFL Network. All eight games will start at 5 p.m. (PST):
Thur., Nov. 23, Broncos at ChiefsThur., Nov. 30, Ravens at BengalsThur., Dec. 7, Browns at SteelersThur., Dec. 14, 49ers at SeahawksSat., Dec. 16, Cowboys at FalconsThur., Dec. 21, Vikings at PackersSat., Dec. 23, Chiefs at RaidersSat., Dec. 30, Giants at Commanders
LINK
By Cam Inman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Deion Sanders is on the phone, thanking the NFL Network for hiring him as an analyst and "giving me a chance to do what I'm blessed to do."
Bryant Gumbel is in the headlines, having ridiculed players union chief Gene Upshaw's relationship with Paul Tagliabue and thus jeopardizing Gumbel's status as a play-by-play man for the NFL Network's foray into regular-season game telecasts.
Rich Eisen is smiling in amazement as he walks through the NFL Network's Culver City studio, marveling at the new faces that have surrounded him since he became the network's cover boy upon its 2003 inception.
Take all these recent snapshots and sound bites and you start picturing what's brewing with the league-run network.
"It's a very exciting time here," Eisen said earlier this summer upon showing up at work, he being host of the network's signature show, "NFL Total Access."
"It's going to be awesome," adds former 49ers and Detroit Lions coach Steve Mariucci, another newly hired NFL Network analyst.
If die-hard fans haven't yet taken notice of the NFL's 24-hour channel, they likely will by Thanksgiving. That's when the first of eight prime-time games will be shown on the channel, which is available primarily on special cable and satellite packages. Rather than rake in more loot from an outside network, NFL owners opted Jan. 28 to keep for themselves the package of prime-time games that will air on Thursdays and Saturdays in the closing weeks of the regular season.
"It's very meaningful that we're going to show our games on the network," Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
Also new on the programming docket:
• A Sunday night, 90-minute highlight show, "NFL GameDay." Eisen, Mariucci and Sanders will chaperon the show featuring game footage, locker-room interviews and on-field audio.
• For the first time, NFL games will be rebroadcast within days of their live airing, albeit in a 90-minute director's cut. Four games will be shown each week, two on Tuesday nights and two on Thursday nights.
• College football is coming to NFL Network. An eight-hour show is slated for Saturday nights to provide highlights, news and analysis, including that of NFL draft expert Mike Mayock, who has a big fan in Raiders managing general partner Al Davis. To handle the additional programming, NFL Network has been constructing a second sound stage next to its original one across the parking lot from its expanding offices in Culver City.
As construction crews remodel the cramped complex that used to house a dot-com company and is just down the street from Sony Pictures, it's easy to see the NFL's determination to carve yet another niche in Hollywood, even if it can't quite figure a way to get an actual team in town.
"It really has a chance to have a special place with our fans," Jones said.
"It is a tremendous promotional tool," 49ers owner John York said. "With it being our own, we can do things no one else is capable to do."
But York knows this can't be just an outlet for NFL propaganda. "It will not be bought by the public if it's not real, and it can't be staged," York said. "You have to have the good and bad (opinions)."
Gumbel certainly tested that theory last month, when he suggested on an HBO show that Tagliabue show incoming commissioner Roger Goodell the "leash" that guided Upshaw through labor talks. Tagliabue sent a verbal shot back at Gumbel, and although the NFL Network got needed publicity out of the spat, it still raised the question of whether the right of free speech exists with the upstart network.
"I don't think we're going to be censored," Sanders said. "Their desire is for us to be who we are. They hired Deion Sanders because they want his opinion."
And the league wants a nice return on its investment, something York and Davis expect to happen, which could help low-revenue teams.
"We gave up a paying network to let this thing grow," Davis said, referring to turning down OLN's potential bid for the eight-game package. "You have to take into consideration we (make) four to five billion (dollars) a year from TV. This thing, if we had done it with a network, would have brought us four million a team ($128 million). But we gave that up to make this thing grow fast. It's going to be a very valuable product and piece of property."
Mariucci, even with a $25 million war chest from his coaching gig with the Lions, will fly weekly from his Michigan home to Southern California so he can appear on the Sunday night highlights show and Monday's "NFL Total Access."
"It's going to be fun, plus all those frequent-flier miles," Mariucci quipped.
Sanders, who left CBS two years ago to resume his playing career with the Baltimore Ravens, is excited about the extra access to players and coaches he'll have because he is working for a league-run network.
"It allows us to go more in-depth than other networks," Sanders said.
Another probable Hall of Famer joined the network this summer in St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk, who has yet to announce his retirement. He appears on "NFL Total Access" with Eisen and Rod Woodson, who retired from the Raiders after 2003 and lives in Pleasanton.
The Raiders' Davis, an avid watcher of the NFL Network's scouting-combine coverage, suggested gauging the network's progress by comparing its growth with that of ESPN's after five years. NFL Network, 33 months old, states it's in 41 million homes and that ESPN was in 43.4 million homes when it began carrying NFL games in 1987, that network's eighth year.
The NFL Network has built part of its foundation with two key men who have ESPN roots -- Steve Bornstein and Eisen.
Bornstein, the NFL Network's CEO, is the behind-the-scenes power broker who convinced owners to cough up the eight-game package. His office is decorated with sports Emmy Awards, including the first one NFL Network won -- a 2004 trophy now glued to his coffee table.
Eisen, a former ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor, offers up an easy-talking, unpretentious style that's made him the face of NFL Network.
GOT NFLN?
Regular-season games will be shown for the first time on the league-run NFL Network. All eight games will start at 5 p.m. (PST):
Thur., Nov. 23, Broncos at ChiefsThur., Nov. 30, Ravens at BengalsThur., Dec. 7, Browns at SteelersThur., Dec. 14, 49ers at SeahawksSat., Dec. 16, Cowboys at FalconsThur., Dec. 21, Vikings at PackersSat., Dec. 23, Chiefs at RaidersSat., Dec. 30, Giants at Commanders
LINK