Other Florida Teams
FAU Roundup 8/17/04
By Sarah Talalay
Aug 17, 2004

BOCA RATON (sun-sentinel.com) - Florida Atlantic's young football team took another step toward promoting its image nationally Monday, announcing a partnership with ADT Security Systems that will vastly expand the team's television and radio coverage.

Six of the Owls' seven away games will be broadcast on cable across South Florida and in some cases, the entire Southeast, and the team will have radio coverage from Key West to Vero Beach.

Costs of the broadcasts vary, but ADT, based in Boca Raton, has agreed to underwrite the programming up to $200,000.

"This opportunity with ADT to move forward on a national level is about as important as you can get," coach Howard Schnellenberger said. "The only thing more important is to be able to win games."

Schnellenberger likened the broadcasts to a "five-hour infomercial" for the Owls.

All away games except the Sept. 11 contest against North Texas will be broadcast in South Florida either on Adelphia in Palm Beach County (except Oct. 16 game); Comcast's Sports Southeast, a southeastern sports network that is to begin airing Sept. 7 on Comcast's expanded basic package in Broward and Miami-Dade counties (except Sept. 4 and Oct. 16 games); Fox Sports Net (Oct. 9 and 16 games only, if NHL is in a lockout); College Sports Television (Oct. 9 and 16 only); or as a DirecTV option.

On radio, joining WLVJ 1040-AM, which covers most of South Florida, will be WKAT 1360-AM in Miami; WPSL 1590-AM in Port St. Lucie; and its sister station, WSTU 1450-AM, in Stuart.

ADT President Mike Snyder said his company saw an opportunity to partner with a solid and growing local program.

FAU President Frank Brogan said the deal promotes the school, particularly when the team is on the road for its first three games.

"So when we do come home for that first home game, a full month into our season, we'll have not only an audience that is ready, willing and able to fill Lockhart [Stadium], but also a brand new viewing audience that will be tethered to us," Brogan said.

SCRIMMAGE TODAY

FAU will hold its first scrimmage of preseason camp today.

It will be the first of three scrimmages for FAU, with the second Saturday at Lockhart Stadium as part of Fan Fest activities that begin at 2 p.m.

The final scrimmage is set for Aug. 25, 10 days before the opening game at Hawaii.

"After that the starting lineup will be set and we can begin concentrating on the Rainbow Warriors," Schnellenberger said.

FAU has added a three-man front on defense, and several new offensive formations, including one with two tight ends, and will be testing them in the scrimmages.

Also a focus will be the play of the two new starters on the offensive line, center Jarrid Smith and guard Nello Faulk.