After review, NFL will allow church Super Bowl parties
Tell your pastor to stop looking over their shoulder, a higher power (Roger Goodell) has decided the NFL will no longer object to live showings -- regardless of screen size -- of the Super Bowl. With the caveat that the event must be free, and held on premises the church uses "on a routine basis", this makes the local ministry and sports bar odd bedfellows enjoying exemption from the NFL's rule against public viewing on screens 55-inches or larger. With more and more churches adding big screens, this could have become a PR nightmare for the NFL, but with HDTVs continuing to grow, we suspect this isn't the last we've heard about this issue.[Via ESPN; warning, registration required]
Update: Check out the senator's press release concerning the letter received from Commissioner Goodell (Thanks Taylor!).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ceilingfanboy @ Feb 21st 2008 3:38PM
Alas, Frank is allowed to turn on his 10,000" TV during the big game without fear of being sued by the NFL as long as he doesn't charge anyone.
Xyzzy @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:44AM
Best...song...ever!!!!! Great reference! :)
MadMike @ Feb 21st 2008 4:17PM
I have a projector in my house and my TV is effectively 114" and I have 7.1 Surround sound... Does this mean I can't have anyone over my house to watch a football game? Or is there a limit to the amount of people I have over my house? Like parties of 30 or more or something....
Taylor @ Feb 21st 2008 4:20PM
How about a link to the actual press release or something directly from the NFL saying this? Simply linking to ESPN doesn't really give me any more comfort than reading it here and taking it for granted.
Richard Lawler @ Feb 21st 2008 4:18PM
Sorry that the Washington Post, senator Arlen Spector, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell aren't reliable enough sources for you. The responsible parties have been flogged.
Taylor @ Feb 21st 2008 4:25PM
@ Richard
I think you misunderstand me. I'm looking for citing a source. Like a web page of a press release for this information. Did you interview these people? No, so it's not even your source. I'm just asking that you be a little more like actual press and provide more citations. It would be useful as a reader.
If I'm working at a church and decide to show the SuperBowl and get sued by the NFL. I don't think I can site an article posted by Engadget or ESPN as defense. Doesn't really work that way. I just want to see where this info originally came from.
Taylor @ Feb 21st 2008 4:30PM
MAN! Seriously... I miss that little tiny 'read' link at the bottom all the time. I saw the ESPN link at the bottom thinking it was the source and missed the read link to washington post.... But still Richard, you don't seriously count a news paper as a source, right? They are not the originator of information, they are just like you and report information.
Richard Lawler @ Feb 21st 2008 4:34PM
Yes, we do count the Washington Post as a source, just like ESPN does. There often isn't a widely available press release for information like this, I don't know if there ever will be. Unfortunately even for simple things like product announcements, companies very often don't post the information on the web.
Taylor @ Feb 21st 2008 4:47PM
Richard, please don't take offense. I appreciate that you have reported this info.
Just spend a few minutes of detective work and you can find it. It took me less than 2 minutes to find this.
http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=2001&Month=2&Year=2008
Richard Lawler @ Feb 21st 2008 4:30PM
There is no press release from th NFL on this. The source is the Washington Post, which is linked in the post, citing a letter sent from the commissioner to the senator. If you'd like to call the senator's office and verify whether or not the letter was received, please be my guest. Apparently, both I and ESPN have such low editorial standards that we believe the story, without seeing the actual letter. If you get sued, sorry, I really can't help you.
DepecheSA @ Feb 21st 2008 5:15PM
Having read the link that Taylor attached to his previous comment it would appear that they have a PDF copy of the letter from Roger Goodell which I believe is a better source than a Washing Post article. You got to stop being so defensive about your posts and admit that Taylor comes up with a more reliable reference than yours.
Richard Lawler @ Feb 21st 2008 5:21PM
I am very comfortable with using the Washington Post as a source, if you're not happy that they don't provide a PDF copy of the letter they read, please take it up with them. If there were any doubt as to the validity of the original article, more investigation would have been needed, but it wasn't.
MadMike @ Feb 21st 2008 5:29PM
What I take from reading that is that the NFL has the problem with people charging admission and having the super-bowl on a screen larger than 55". If I ask my friends to come over my house to watch it on my 114" TV and asked them to pay $10 each to watch the game, then the NFL could sue me. If I just ask them to come over and watch it and don't charge them, they likely wouldn't give a rats ass.
Galley @ Feb 22nd 2008 8:27AM
Roger Goodell? Never heard of him.