The National Football League does not want news organizations to place more than 45 seconds of NFL video content online each day.
In the United States, the NFL has surpassed all of the other major sports leagues in terms of popularity. The league wants to capitalize on that as much as possible, to the detriment of news organizations that report on its games and players.
Sports blogs Deadspin and Foul Balls picked up on the story, as reported by the Washington Post. The new rule has been in place for a month, with news organizations trying to get the league to relent.
No other league places such a limitation on web video, apart from game footage. However, Major League Baseball, the NBA, and the NHL do not have the same level of appeal that the NFL enjoys in modern-day society; hockey in particular needs all the coverage it can get.
Exclusive lengthier video of player and coach interviews will be on NFL team websites, where the teams can manage their advertising and access for maximum profit.
The policy has drawn a video response from one NFL reporter. The Houston Chronicle’s John McClain posted a video response to the NFL policy, which satirizes the 45-second interview video limitation.
“There are a number of reasons for [barring videographers], but it’s basically a content issue,” Redskins spokesman Chris Helein said in the Post. “I won’t hide . . . the fact that the NFL and everything that surrounds it is valuable content.”
“Because the billion dollars a year the league makes just isn’t quite enough to keep dinner on the table,” Foul Balls retorted.
