Two years ago, NBC spent $30 million to $40 million getting viewers revved up for the XFL, the football league created out of whole cloth in about 18 months by the World Wrestling Federation in a partnership with the network. The first week, sampling was huge: NFL-sized ratings in all the male demographics. In retrospect, though, the promotion worked a little too well, says John Miller, co-president of The NBC Agency, as he and Vince Manze, the other co-president of NBC's ad/promotion unit, ponder how to draw a crowd for the network's latest stab at developing a TV sports franchise: the Arena Football League (AFL).
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