Arena Football moving to ESPN was probably overlooked with College Football and the NFL playing. In late December of 2006, the Arena Football League announced a new five-year agreement with the sports network. In this deal with ESPN, the Arena Football League will be giving the network rights to a minimum of 26 games and minority ownership of the league.

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Starting this 2007 season, ESPN and corporate cousins ESPN2 and ABC will annually carry at least 26 AFL games - 17 regular season games and nine playoff games. These playoff games include a minimum of three wild card games, three divisional playoff games, both conference championships and the big daddy, The Arena Bowl. Seeking to build a year-round football franchise on Monday nights, ESPN2 will have Monday prime-time games from March 12 through June 25.

The 2007 AFL coverage will kickoff on ABC with a pair of Regional games: Chicago Rush at Kansas City Brigade and Dallas Desperados at New York Dragons on March 4. ABC will broadcast Arena Bowl XXI on July 29 from the New Orleans Arena; it will be the city of New Orleans first host championship event since Hurricane Katrina.

The 2007 AFL television schedule on ESPN (all times Eastern):

--March 4: Chicago at Kansas City; Dallas at New York, ESPN on ABC (regional), 12:30 p.m.
--March 12: Los Angeles at Orlando, ESPN2, 7 p.m.
--March 22: Colorado at Philadelphia ESPN2, 7 p.m.
--March 26: Dallas at Orlando, ESPN2, 7 p.m.
--April 1: Los Angeles at Chicago, ESPN2, 1:30 p.m.
--April 9: Georgia at Philadelphia, ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.
--April 16: Philadelphia at Dallas, ESPN2, 8 p.m.
--April 23: Philadelphia at Columbus, ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.
--April 30: Philadelphia at Chicago, ESPN2, 8 p.m.
--May 7: Colorado at Chicago, ESPN2, 8 p.m.
--May 14: New York at Philadelphia, ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.
--May 21: New Orleans at Philadelphia, ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.
--May 28: New York at New Orleans, ESPN2, 8 p.m.
--June 4: Colorado at Utah, ESPN2, 10:30 p.m.
--June 11: Los Angeles at Arizona, ESPN2, 10 p.m.
--June 18: Chicago at Colorado, ESPN2, 10 p.m.
--June 25: Dallas at Colorado, ESPN2, 10 p.m.

Postseason television schedule

--June 29: Wild card, ESPN, 7 p.m.
--June 30: Wild card, ESPN, noon
--June 30: Wild card, ESPN, 3 p.m.
--July 2: Wild card, ESPN2, 10 p.m.
--July 7: Divisional playoff, ESPN, 3 p.m.
--July 7: Divisional playoff, ESPN, 8 p.m.
--July 8: Divisional playoff, ESPN2, 9 p.m.
--July 9: Divisional playoff, ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.
--July 14: Conference championship, ESPN, 3 p.m.
--July 15: Conference championship, ESPN2, 12:30 p.m.
--July 29: ArenaBowl XXI, at New Orleans, ESPN on ABC, 3 p.m.

I'm a big fan of the Arena Football league so check back to Doc's Sports for future articles, league previews and odds for this upcoming 2007 Arena Football season.