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Name change for NFL "minor league" in Europe could boost viewers
As part of its effort to expand globally, the NFL has struck several new TV-rights deals overseas, signed new sponsors for its NFL Europe League (formerly called the World League) and set new international TV programming plans for the 1998-99 season.
SAT.1, a major German network, has become an NFL TV partner. The net will televise a preview of the season and will air Super Bowl XXXIII live from Miami next January. SAT 1 also will offer weekly highlights of the six-team, five-country NFL Europe League.
A joint venture of the NFL and Fox Sports, the NFL Europe League (an NFL farm system of sorts) will kick off its '98 season on April 4. NFL Europe also will get weekly coverage this season in the U.S. on the Fox Sports Net regional sports cable channels and on DirecTV (Last year, DirecTV and Fox's basic-cable network, FX, televised regular-season games.)
On Sunday,...