Taking It Inside

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This growth, along with the new economics of sports TV, brought the AFL and NBC together. After losing $300 million on the last two years of its NBA contract, the network exited the major-sports business last summer. To fill the weekend space, NBC offered the AFL a slot in its schedule, on the condition that the league waive a rights fee and let NBC broadcast games in perpetuity. Under the arrangement, NBC this year got the initial $10 million in advertising revenues to cover its production and promotion costs. The next $3 million went to the AFL. Both figures have already been covered, and additional funds the amount of which neither party will specify are being split fifty-fifty between the network and the league. The AFL team owners have also agreed to give NBC 5% of any proceeds exceeding $12 million that are acquired in the sale of a franchise. In past contracts with other sports leagues, "when a league would leave for a more lucrative deal, we didn't reap any rewards," says NBC Sports president Ken Schanzer. "This deal changes all that."

But the deal has yet to change the AFL's position in the sports hierarchy. As Baker followed the broadcasts of two arena games recently in an NBC conference room in New York City, he couldn't help an occasional peek at rival ABC on another screen, where Shaquille O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers were battling the San Antonio Spurs. That NBA playoff game drew a 7.0 rating (one rating point equals a million households), while the AFL got only a 0.9.

Still, Baker is encouraged by the enthusiasm evident in the stands at AFL games around the country, where his hefty figure is a familiar sight. Fans greet him like a rock star and beg for autographs and high fives. He knows many season-ticket holders and their kids by name. "I'm lucky," he says as he signs a program. "Paul Tagliabue doesn't get to do this."