Tagliabue looking at new TV network, team in LA by end of decade

[maddogkf]

Tagliabue looking at new TV network, team in LA by end of decadeBy PAUL NEWBERRY, AP Sports Writer
February 4, 2005

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AP - Feb 4, 12:39 pm EST
More PhotosJACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Friday the league is looking to start a new network to televise games, and also hopes to have a team in Los Angeles by the end of the decade.

In his annual Super Bowl week news conference, Tagliabue also said the NFL is considering regular-season games outside the United States and holding preseason games in China leading up to the 2008 Olympics.

``We're giving very serious consideration to launching another major sports network on satellite or cable TV,'' Tagliabue said, without elaborating.

In November, the league extended its television contracts with Fox and CBS, but negotiations with ABC-ESPN (both owned by Disney) have bogged down over the issue of siphoning off games to fill new slots on Thursday and Saturday nights. Apparently, those games could be part of the proposed new network.

The NFL is desperate to get back into Los Angeles, which lost two NFL teams -- the Rams and Raiders -- after the 1995 season. The league is holding discussions with four sites, including Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl, about the possibility of building a new stadium.

``I want to get it done this decade,'' said Tagliabue, adding that he wasn't especially concerned whether it was 2008 or '09. ``We want a team that stays there and will be successful for 50 to 100 years. That's the timeline that matters to me.''

The league has played preseason games outside the United States, and Tagliabue said the idea of holding regular-season games in other countries is under consideration. Toronto and Mexico City are the prime candidates -- perhaps as early as next season. Tagliabue will travel to China in May to discuss having two preseason games there, likely tying in with the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The commissioner touched on minority hiring by saying the league would concentrate on increasing its pool of qualified candidates for front-office posts. For the time being, teams won't be required to interview minorities for those jobs as they are for head coaching positions.

 

[vince56]

The league has played preseason games outside the United States, and Tagliabue said the idea of holding regular-season games in other countries is under consideration. Toronto and Mexico City are the prime candidates -- perhaps as early as next season.

Damn it, I just know we're gonna lose a home game or two because of this. It's our luck.

 

[Stout]

Tagliabue said the idea of holding regular-season games in other countries is under consideration. Toronto and Mexico City are the prime candidates -- perhaps as early as next season.

Ohhhh....HEEEELLL...NOOOOO!!! Damn it, Tagliabue, don't ruin the friggin' NFL!!! You're riding a high...don't screw the fans over now, because you'll lose us. Learn your lessons from other major sports.

 

[40yearfan]

I think it would probably be some of what the NFL feels is it's better or more well-known teams that would be playing out of the country. They want to present their best image and we all know how the rest of the NFL feels about the Cards.

 

[Djaughe]

....The NFL is desperate to get back into Los Angeles, which lost two NFL teams -- the Rams and Raiders -- after the 1995 season....

If L.A. is so hot...why did the Rams/Raiders bail?

:seriousquestion:

 

[clif]

If L.A. is so hot...why did the Rams/Raiders bail?

:seriousquestion:

I think it was stadium issues.


On the idea of games in other cities.. How the hell can he sell that idea to ticketholders and these cities with these stadium lease agreements?

 

[azsports]

What is comes down to is Money. The day will come when no more games will be on free TV. Only on cable or satellite.

 

[seesred]

I hate pre season games and I'm sure the players will love traveling 16 hours to play a game and 16-20 hours back? Yea Right !

GBR
40

 

[CardLogic]

The day will come when no more games will be on free TV. Only on cable or satellite.

My thoughts exactly... sounds like where Tagliabue is headed.

 

[Mulli]

What about the Titans being shown in those islands where the guy who was eating only pudding lived?

Did he talk about that?

 

[maddogkf]

What about the Titans being shown in those islands where the guy who was eating only pudding lived?

Did he talk about that?

oh yeah - what ever happened to him?

 

[maddogkf]

http://nflpuddingstrike.com/

it appears the pudding strike is over

 

[Renz]

Paul Newberry / Associated Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Commissioner Paul Tagliabue sent a veiled warning to ABC/ESPN on Friday that the league might get involved in creating a new sports TV network.

While the NFL already has extended agreements with Fox and CBS for its Sunday afternoon TV rights, negotiations on the prime-time packages with ABC and ESPN have stalled.
"We're giving very serious consideration to being part of the launch of another major sports network on cable and satellite television," Tagliabue said during his annual state of the NFL address at the Super Bowl.

A league source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Fox is interested in the prime-time games for the new sports network, which would compete with ESPN. The league wants to add Thursday night and Saturday night games, although not for the entire season.

"We're also talking to other television networks and companies about the packages we have to sell," Tagliabue said, "including the Thursday night/Saturday package we're creating. And there's strong interest in other companies, some of whom already have contracts with us and some who don't."

At one point, Fox was interested in buying the entire NFL package. But it settled for renewing its NFC Sunday afternoon rights for six years and $4.3 billion last November; CBS kept the AFC Sunday package for $3.7 billion. Both have agreed to be flexible so the NFL could move some better matchups from Sunday afternoon to prime time.

Tagliabue said ESPN/ABC "have tremendous interest in staying with the NFL, both on cable television and broadcast television. We have an interest in them staying with us. We have a disagreement about what the rights fees should be."

Neither Fox nor ABC returned calls for comment.

The current deals expire after the 2005 season.

By then, the NFL might have staged a game that counts outside U.S. borders. Tagliabue said the league is considering a game in Mexico or Canada, perhaps as soon as the upcoming schedule.

Prime candidates to sacrifice a game in their home stadium would be the Cardinals for Mexico or the Bills for Canada, although Tagliabue mentioned no specific teams.

And Tagliabue envisions preseason games in China leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

 

[WisconsinCard]

Ohhhh....HEEEELLL...NOOOOO!!! Damn it, Tagliabue, don't ruin the friggin' NFL!!! You're riding a high...don't screw the fans over now, because you'll lose us. .

I don't think they could do anything to "lose" us. But I could see some teams with a "low attendance" wanting to have a game somewhere else. I hope it doesn't happen. But that could make for a good excuse for an ASFN road trip.

 

[JeffGollin]

A couple of things:

1. Keep an eye on Microsoft. They want to move back more aggressively into TV/Computer convergence technology, and you're starting to hear buzz again about providing viewers with football game camera-view options and the ability for individuals to have program-content retrieved, recorded, archived or "pushed" to you on a personal TV or handheld device like you can do on a PC. This could be where Tagliabue wants to go.

2. If you were the CEO of a mega-corporation and laying out strategies for 5, 10, 25 years out, you'd be crazy not to explore ways to make money by expanding distribution of your product throughout the globe.

But think big thoughts. This needn't be a matter of whether to expand the league from 32 - 34 teams or replacing Cincinnati with Mexico City. It could turn out to be a set of parallel leagues in Europe, South America and Asia who - when the caliber of play was consistently high enough 5 or 10 years hence - could perhaps participate in an end-of-season playoff or at least one or 2 International All Star Games.