In 1968, when the Cincinnati Bengals were enfranchised by the American Football League, channel 5 became the station of record for the team as Avco acquired broadcast rights to the team's preseason games, which were also distributed to Dayton, Columbus, and Indianapolis. WLWT would also carry most regular-season Bengals games through NBC's contracts with the AFL and the National Football League through the end of the 1997 season, when NBC lost its broadcast rights to the American Football Conference to CBS. In the present-day WLWT airs Bengals games when they are featured on NBC's "Sunday Night Football" as well as ESPN's "Monday Night Football", a benefit of WLWT owner Hearst's 20 percent stake in the sports network.