AVENGERS UPDATE: ARENA RATINGS THROUGH ROOF KICKOFF OF NEW NATIONAL TV DEAL GOES BETTER THAN LEAGUE EXPECTED.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

Avengers players and coaches finally received word of the news many had waited nearly a year to hear.

In its first weekend of broadcasts with new television partner NBC, the Arena Football League exceeded expectations with a 2.2 national overnight rating for four Sunday games and nearly matched the rating of the competing NHL All-Star Game on ABC.

For the 17-year-old AFL, the figures from Nielsen in New York represented a historic moment. To the Avengers, meanwhile, it was a cause for celebration, especially with Sunday's showdown against San Jose marking their NBC debut.

``I think this is just the beginning for us,'' said Avengers lineman Mike Ulufale, a four-year AFL veteran. ``We're only going to get better. This league does not believe in big hype. It just sells itself.''

The NHL All-Star Game received a 2.3 national rating and the same 5 share as the AFL. Locally, the San Jose-Arizona ArenaBowl rematch on Channel 4 received a 0.9 rating, compared to 2.1 for the hockey game.

But the AFL also beat the NHL in five markets with professional hockey teams - Denver, Atlanta, Phoenix, Nashville, Tenn., and Columbus, Ohio - and tied in Chicago. It also produced a rating higher than the 1.5 to 2.0 it promised advertisers before the season.

The league and NBC agreed to the two-year television deal last March and moved up the start of this year's season by two months to minimize the gap between the end of the NFL season and Arena League's opener.

As the overnight ratings - representing 55 television markets and 69 percent of the country's viewers - were disclosed Monday, neither NBC nor those associated with the Arena League for years could contain their excitement.

``It's awesome,'' Avengers quarterback Tony Graziani said. ``We focus on winning, but as players we know where our bread is buttered. We know television is a major part of that, so we hope this will keep going.''

NBC entered into its partnership with the AFL after losing its rights to the NFL and NBA in recent years. The network now will try to avoid a similar XFL debacle of two years ago, in which ratings crashed after an initially high debut.

Another positive statistic was the AFL broadcasts gained in viewers throughout their 2 1/2-hour window. Final national numbers are due Thursday, but Denver had the highest overnight rating with an 11.8.

The Avengers will have seven of their 16 regular-season games televised by Channel 4.

``This has been everything we hoped and expected it to be,'' owner Casey Wasserman said of the network deal at Monday's annual kickoff luncheon at Staples Center.