Sorry for the lack of any blog the past couple of days. At this time of year things get incredibly busy for everyone in AFANA. Add to that the need to go be "Dad" yesterday on short notice and it prevented me from sitting here in front of the glowing monitor. Picking up the history of AFANA, I wanted to correct and clarify a couple of points I've made already and provide more background on the fan efforts.
We'll never know for sure why the AFL and ESPN failed to close the handshake deal they made in Monaco in late 1995. Speculation for many years has been that ESPN did not view such a gentleman's agreement as binding whereas the AFL did. Thus ESPN felt free to pick and choose which of these "handshake" deals they honored. That is the ethical question.
When it became clear in mid-February 1996 that no TV was a possibility, the campaign to save the coverage really began to take shape. Thousands of fans took part in a coordinated effort to insure that some coverage of AFL continued in the US and Canada. It was only the intense pressure of fans that forced ESPN into talking again with the AFL.
As the season start approached in late March 1996, my telephone rang. It was Grant Burgess, then marketing manager for the AFL. Grant had finally decided he was tired of the pressure and decided to give fans his side of the story. It was a major break and let us intensify the pressure on ESPN. And it worked.
It is a tribute to the fans of the sport that we kept up the pressure from February right thru to April and beyond. On Monday evening, 8 April 1996 the AFL confirmed a deal had been reached. ESPN confirmed the deal on 12 April 1996. From early April, it was a waiting game for fans and an ongoing effort to get a firm start date and schedule from ESPN and the AFL.
ESPN's web site folks stated from early on that "A highlight show on ESPN2 is scheduled for Saturday mornings at 6:30 am ET, beginning July 6." This appears to have been the wording of the ESPN web site response to any inquiry on the subject. The 6 July date appears to have been either a public relations idea to deflect pressure on this issue or the real date all along, we'll never know. Even though this date was issued by the web site within a week of the deal we were repeatedly told by ESPN management that it was in error and coverage would start "as soon as possible".
From mid-May there were a series of messages from ESPN indicating that the time slot "has been available" and is 6:30 am EDT on Saturday. ESPN said they were "ready to air the programs once the problem is resolved". This did not happen. While ESPN continued to say it was the AFL's fault, the AFL was frustrated with ESPN's endless concerns and issues such as theme music licensing and program format.
In early June, I received a call one morning about 9:00 AM from ESPN's then programming manager, a Mr. Krigsman, who was irate that his e-mail was clogged with fan complaints about the fact footy was not yet on the air. After his 10 minute tirade, I calmly explained that if we got straight answers from ESPN and consistent ones that might help. I also let him know that he couldn't expect to have us relay his version of events if he never provided it.
Finally, the highlights program finally did begin on ESPN2 on 6 July '96 with coverage of Round 5. By the time of the Grand Final, ESPN had shown the highlights thru Round 22. The finals highlights were shown through 12 October.
Now, back to AFANA. Beginning in March, I received a series of e-mails from Richard Lipp and Wade Hinkle, along with a few others, about turning the "campaign" into a permanent organization. Initially I was quite skeptical not seeing the way that would really work. By June the discussions had become serious and the circle of people involved was growing.
Wade pushed hard for me to head the organization, something that initially I did not want to do. Only when he agreed to come along as the 2nd in command and help me recruit the other officers, did I began to think seriously about accepting.
I'll continue this weekend with Part III, the birth of AFANA.
-Rob (wondering just why he is still at it all these years later...)
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