NFL Halts Super Bowl Church Parties
Ohhh…for heaven sakes, could the NFL get any greedier?
WASHINGTON — For years, as many as 200 members of Immanuel Bible Church and their friends have gathered in the church’s fellowship hall to watch the Super Bowl on its 6-foot screen. The party featured hard-hitting on the TV, plenty of food — and prayer.
But this year, Immanuel’s Super Bowl party is no more. After a crackdown by the National Football League on big-screen Super Bowl gatherings by churches, the Springfield, Va., church has sacked its event. Instead, church members will host parties in their homes.
Immanuel is among a number of churches that have been forced to use a new play book to satisfy the NFL, which said that airing games at churches on large-screen TV sets violates the NFL copyright.
Ministers are not happy.
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The league bans public exhibitions of its games on TV sets or screens larger than 55 inches because smaller sets limit the audience size. The section of federal copyright law giving the NFL protection over the content of its programming exempts sports bars, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.
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Large Super Bowl gatherings around big-screen sets outside of homes shrink TV ratings and can affect advertising revenue, McCarthy said. “We have no objection to churches and others hosting Super Bowl parties as long as they . . . show the game on a television of the type commonly used at home,” he said. “It is a matter of copyright law.”
Will the NFL regulate or monitor all commercial establishments showing the Super Bowl on large screen TVs?
