Hallmark Channel believes it has made the purrfect choice for commissioner of its Feline Football League.
Former NFL all-star and media commentator Boomer Esiason will also serve as the spokeman for the FFL, whose schedule includes a scouting combine, draft, regular-season games and playoffs that all lead up to Kitten Bowl II, which will kick off on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 1 on Hallmark Channel.
Kitten Bowl II is part of Hallmark Channel’s corporate initiative “Pet Project,” a movement dedicated to celebrating pets and the joy they bring to humans. The FFL and Kitten Bowl II aim to raise awareness of the plight of shelter animals across the country as Hallmark Channel once again partners with North Shore Animal League America and Last Hope Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation, with an eye toward having the feline competitors find loving homes once the games end.
“We couldn’t have formed history’s first Feline Football League without an exceptional commissioner,” said Bill Abbott, president and CEO, Crown Media Family Networks. “Boomer Esiason is the embodiment for everything the Feline Football League stands for and we’re excited to bring him on as the new face and leader of the network’s newest league that celebrates pet adoption.”
Upon graduating from the University of Maryland, Esiason, a Long Island native, played 14 years in the NFL, as quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals. A four-time Pro Bowler, he the league's 1988 MVP. In 1995, Esiason was honored with the Walter Peyton Man of the Year award for his excellence on the football field as well as his charitable work through the Boomer Esiason Foundation, an organization created to fund research to find a cure for cystic fibrosis, from which his son suffers.
After retiring from the NFL after the 1997 season, Esiason began his career in the broadcast booth as a commentator for ABC’s NFL Monday Night Football. Esiason also called games for Westwood One/CBS Radio Sports’ MNF for nearly a decade and in 2002 joined CBS Sports as a studio analyst for The NFL Today. In 2007, Esiason debuted as host of WFAN’s morning radio show “Boomer and Carton in the Morning” and has also hosted “The Boomer Esiason Show” on Madison Square Garden Network.
