AVENGERS UPDATE: NBC ENTERS ARENA'S ARENA.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

Less than a year removed from its disastrous partnership with the XFL, NBC Sports jumped back into the alternative football market Tuesday when it announced an agreement to broadcast Arena Football League games beginning in February 2003.

NBC will pay no broadcast-rights fee and will receive an estimated $20 million equity stake in the league. NBC will air regional games on Sunday afternoons, filling the regular time slot to be vacated by the NBA after this season.

The deal is a boom for the AFL, which begins its 17th season April 19 and will find out later this month if the NFL will exercise an option to buy up to 49.9 percent of the league. The AFL's current deal with ABC, ESPN and TNN ends after the upcoming season.

Avengers games not carried on NBC are expected to be broadcast locally, although the team's contract with Fox Sports Net also expires before next season.

``We are marrying up with an established league, a legitimate league and its 16 years of quality performance at the grass-roots level,'' NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said.

The only potential sticking point, particularly for the Avengers, is the league's move to a schedule running from February to June - about two months earlier than usual. That could cause scheduling nightmares for Staples Center, which already has a full schedule of Lakers, Kings and Clippers games during much of the same part of the year.

This month, for example, the arena has events booked on 25 of 31 days, including just one open day on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, desired days for sporting events.

``Staples Center has been, and will continue to be, a tremendous partner in our venture,'' said Avengers owner Casey Wasserman, who helped broker the NBC deal on behalf of the league and said he already has discussed the issue with arena officials.

``This gives us a tremendous opportunity to promote the sport and expose many more people to our product. When your goal is to be a major sports league, a national-television deal is one of the fundamental pillars.''

The NFL deal would provide another boost of exposure to a league that has endured some growing pains. The average cost of an AFL franchise increased from $400,000 to $12 million over the past five years, but only five teams have remained in their original cities since 1997. Ownership problems have been rampant, but the recent involvement of several NFL owners has helped stabilize and legitimatize the AFL.

The 16-team league hopes to add four franchises for 2003. Future franchise sales for more than $12 million will have NBC and the league splitting the net revenue. NBC has the option to renew the deal after the 2004 season.