Editing Arena Football League (section)

====2000s====
In 2000 the AFL had a television deal with [[The National Network|TNN]], [[ESPN]], [[ESPN2]] and [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] worth more than $25 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-03-02-0003021749-story.html|title= Players Revive Arena Season|work=[[Hartford Courant]]|date=March 2, 2000}}</ref> Beginning with the [[2003 Arena Football League season|2003 season]], the AFL made a deal with NBC to televise league games, which was renewed for another two years in [[2005 Arena Football League season|2005]]. In conjunction with this, the league moved the beginning of the season from May to February (the week after the NFL's [[Super Bowl]]) and scheduled most of its games on Sunday instead of Friday or Saturday as it had in the past. In [[2006 Arena Football League season|2006]], because of the [[2006 Winter Olympics|XX Winter Olympic Games]], the [[2006 Stanley Cup playoffs|Stanley Cup]] playoffs and the [[2006 Daytona 500|Daytona 500]], NBC scaled back from weekly coverage to scattered coverage during the regular season, but committed to a full playoff schedule ending with the [[ArenaBowl XX|20th ArenaBowl]]. NBC and the Arena Football League officially severed ties on June 30, 2006, having failed to reach a new broadcast deal. [[Cleveland Gladiators|Las Vegas]] owner Jim Ferraro stated during a radio interview that the reason efforts to make a deal failed was that ESPN refused to show highlights or scores or even mention Arena football as long as it was being aired on NBC.

For the 2006 season only, the AFL added a national cable deal with OLN (later the now-defunct [[NBC Sports Network]]) for eleven regular-season games and one playoff game.

On December 19, 2006, ESPN announced the purchase of a minority stake in the AFL. This deal included television rights for the ESPN family of networks. ESPN would televise a minimum of 17 regular season games, most on Monday nights, and nine playoff games, including [[ArenaBowl XXI]] on [[ESPN on ABC|ABC]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/los-angeles-avengers-game-notes/n-3439348 | title = AFL, ESPN enter into five-year agreement | work = oursportscentral.com | date = March 20, 2007 | access-date = August 9, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170809193009/http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/los-angeles-avengers-game-notes/n-3439348 | archive-date = August 9, 2017 | url-status = live }}</ref> The deal resulted in added exposure on ESPN's ''[[SportsCenter]]''. However, after the original AFL filed for bankruptcy, this arrangement did not carry over to the new AFL, which was a separate legal entity.  The AFL also had a regional-cable deal with [[Fox Sports Net|FSN]], where FSN regional affiliates in AFL markets carried local team games.