The other day, my mom called me all excited with a big scoop for my blog. She said, “the Bears got bumped by Dancing with the Stars.” I was like, “Mom, you’re crazy! There is no way the Bears would get bumped.”
Needless to say, the 180th meeting between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers takes place on Monday September 27th at Soldier Field and the game will air locally in Chicago on Channel 26, the U. Allow me to explain.
The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN, but if you’re one of the 4 people in Chicago who doesn’t have cable or a dish, NFL rules mandate that games be available in local markets on over-the-air channels.
Since ESPN and ABC are both Disney stations, usually the local ABC affiliate carries the game, but the U won out in the bidding. How does Dancing with the Stars figure into this? Check out this snippet from Phil Rosenthal’s piece:
"Typically, ESPN’s coverage of Bears games is simulcast by WLS, which, like ESPN, is owned by the Walt Disney Co. But WLS worked out a deal with WCIU to let Channel 26 carry the prime-time Packers game so that Channel 7 can air a live edition of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” set for that night."
So WLS (ABC’s Chicago affiliate) doesn’t think enough of the Bears to pick up the game and would rather air a bunch of has-been or never-was “celebrities” instead of the Monsters of the Midway? Is that how low the Bears have fallen?
Thanks for the scoop Mom! Enjoy your Dancing with the Stars and…