I remember when this all played out because I had a very small hand in it. At the time I worked for a video & film production company that was hired by the advertising agency Fox used to design and execute the pitch to the league. We produced an exciting, flashy video, probably 20 minutes long, going over how Fox would cover each game and the new features they would introduce to the game broadcast. They covered every little detail in a very fast paced, high energy way. MTV style I guess you could say. Back then, not many folks were using those sort or tactics for that kind of proposal, so it definitely helped to make it stand out. I was sworn to secrecy and actually paid extra for it. Honestly, I didn't think that Fox had a chance because CBS & NBC had the contracts for so long, and I never imagined that Fox would bid so much for the rights. At the time Fox didn't really use big Fox for sports broadcasting, so everybody assumed that they were bidding for the rights for their regional networks, which only covered certain markets. It was a huge surprise to everyone when they dropped that bomb.