BRINGING ARENA TO MASSES 17TH SEASON TO GET MAJOR COVERAGE BY NBC.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

With a yellow legal pad in his hand and red Avengers cap on his head, Pat Haden looked every bit the part of an Arena Football League newcomer at a pair of practices this month. Perched over the shoulder of Avengers coach Ed Hodgkiss, the former USC great asked a question a minute, scribbling down every note in sight.

But Haden had good reason for all the questions - about the eight-man formations, 32-foot-high nets above each end zone and one-step quarterback drops.

As the lead analyst for NBC's new television partnership with the league, Haden will spend Sunday afternoons for the next four months explaining Arena Football to newcomers across the country just like himself. But it didn't take long for Haden to become a convert.

``I've become a fan of it in only a month,'' said Haden, who never had watched a complete Arena League game before getting his new assignment. ``It's a quick game, it's a skilled game, it's a shorter game. I think people are going to like it.''

That's the same reaction for which network and league executives are hoping from viewers this season. Under a unique partnership, NBC will broadcast up to four AFL games (on a regional basis) every Sunday, providing unprecedented exposure as the league opens its 17th season.

The AFL moved forward its season start by almost two months and extended its season by two games at the network's behest. As many as 70 regular-season games, plus the playoffs, will be carried by NBC, beginning with Sunday's San Jose Sabercats-Arizona Rattlers ArenaBowl rematch at noon. As a result, the AFL boasts it will have more network exposure than any league but the NFL.

Locally, the Avengers will open their fourth season Sunday at 3:30 p.m. against the Las Vegas Gladiators at Staples Center. L.A. will play its first of seven scheduled games on NBC the next weekend against San Jose, and throughout training camp, the optimism surrounding the new television deal has been enormous.

``We've been an unexposed product for so long, and NBC is going to help expose us to the masses,'' Hodgkiss said. ``I don't know anyone who has been to an Arena Football game or watched one on TV and not come away happy. We already have a big following. Hopefully, we'll grow to have a national presence.''

Avengers lineman Chris Butterfield added: ``No matter how you cut it, it's great for the league. It gives the league respectability. You're going to start seeing a lot of guys coming over from the NFL when they see you can make a little money and get a little exposure.''

In years past, the AFL bought time on ESPN and TNN, with its championship game televised on ABC. Now the league has a full-fledged broadcast partner. The two sides agreed on a two-year contract in March, and Arena Football commercials have been airing for months.

The deal is unique in that it does not include a rights fee. Instead, NBC will share any profits from future expansion franchises in the 16-team league. It is designed to automatically renew, as well, and offers NBC another chance at televising football after losing the rights to the NFL and sharing in the XFL's failure.

Furthermore, NBC was looking for spring programming after losing its NBA rights last year to ABC and ESPN for a reported $755 million per season. And Arena Football offered a low-cost alternative in the billion-dollar sports-broadcasting marketplace.

For the AFL players, meanwhile, the new television deal has the potential to make them household names in a league that pays only a few of its players more than $100,000 a year and where teams combined to average 99 points per game last season.

And while the partnership with NBC has been much discussed since the start of last season, many Avengers players said it wouldn't feel real until this weekend.

``It's going to be pretty cool to see that peacock logo on the screen,'' said starting quarterback Tony Graziani, a two-year AFL veteran. ``It's going to be like playing in the NFL or college again.''

In Butterfield's case, the NBC deal will afford his former players at Wilson High in Portland, Ore., the chance to watch him play on weekends. A Humboldt State product, Butterfield works as a substitute teacher and assistant football coach at the school. And he had a message for his team at its season-ending banquet.

``I told them, `I'm going to be on NBC, on Sundays, around noon,' '' Butterfield said. ``So they're going to be watching.''

The network also plans on following around players from every team during the season, both on and off the field. An NBC official said the network would showcase the league's stars - including Graziani and wide receiver Greg Hopkins from the Avengers - in the same way it does the country's Olympians.

``NBC is known for its storytelling,'' network spokeswoman Cameron Blanchard said. ``Ninety percent of the athletes we cover in the Olympics you don't know about. But by the end of the Games, you do. We're going to tell the stories of the Arena Football players.''

The network also has learned its lesson from the XFL debacle, in which former pro wrestlers served as lead announcers and ratings nose-dived to the bottom of the Nielsen charts after a strong first week. As a result, NBC has modest ratings projections for the AFL.

For its Arena League telecasts, NBC's Notre Dame broadcast team of Haden and Tom Hammond will call the weekend's biggest game. Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin will be a studio host, and former Washington Redskin John Riggins will announce a secondary game.

Also, NBC will put microphones on both coaches and quarterbacks, as well as along the boards that line the 50-yard field. It also might experiment with new camera angles. But the network has learned from the XFL fallout.

``We're going to do a traditional broadcast,'' Blanchard said. ``It's a fun league, and we're going to try to emphasize that.''

Perhaps the greatest obstacle for fans will be understanding the intricacies of Arena Football, in which players line up both ways like in high school, forward motion is allowed and balls can be caught off the nets.

But Haden, who led the Trojans to a pair of national championships in the 1970s, quickly has come around after attending practices and breaking down game tape with Hodgkiss. And he is confident that viewers will, too.

``It feels a little left-handed at first,'' Haden said. ``The strategy, everything's a little different in some way. But people are going to like Arena Football, once they tune in.''

AFL WEEK 1

Friday's game

Carolina at Tampa Bay

Today's game

Grand Rapids at Buffalo, 4 p.m.

Sunday's games

San Jose at Arizona, noon

Georgia at Colorado, noon

Indiana at Detroit, noon

New York at Dallas, noon

Orlando at Chicago, noon

Las Vegas at Avengers, 3:30 p.m.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 5 boxes

Photo:

GREG HOPKINS

Box:

(1) 2003 ROSTER

(2) 2003 SEASON

(3) PLAYOFFS

(4) STATISTICS

(5) AFL WEEK 1 (see text)