If they allow sports bars to broadcast the game, then they should allow churches to do so as well. And from a business perspective, why take on the church? Doesn’t promote good will and it generates bad press.
The National Football League is throwing a penalty flag on churches planning to show the Super Bowl during parties on Super Sunday.
Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis this week received an overnight letter from NFL attorneys that claimed a “Super Bowl Bash” they saw advertised on the church’s Web site violates copyright laws. Pastor John Newland responded with a letter of apology to the NFL, and said the church would cancel plans to show the game between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears at 6:25 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
[…]
The NFL, though, isn’t laughing. At first, the NFL objected to Fall Creek’s plans to charge a fee to attend the party and its use of the licensed words “Super Bowl” in its promotions. After the church agreed to charge no fee and rename the party, the NFL voiced a copyright objection.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told The Indianapolis Star the league has a longtime policy of banning “mass out-of-home viewing” of the Super Bowl. He said the copyright law limits public showings to televisions smaller than 55 inches.
Aiello said exceptions are made for sports bars and other businesses that show sports events every day.
The NFL’s official policy on the public showing of game broadcasts approves broadcasts only where shown on a “single receiving apparatus of a kind commonly used in private homes” and objects to performances “involving broadcasts in a movie theater or auditorium setting (or) the use of multiple, oversized television monitors.”
It’s not like anyone pays to watch this thing, so they aren’t losing revenue and it promotes their product.
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