Are churches "public venues" for NFL purposes?

[James Manning]

Hello all.

I'm not an attorney or law student. This is my first post to this list. I'm an undergraduate at Murray State University, working on a Bachelors of Integrated Studies. My senior project is on evangelical Christians in conservative politics. I monitor Christian talk radio daily. This is a hotly discussed topic this week.

I work in the music business. I am also involved in professional boxing as a judge, referee and promoter. My experience in this subject area comes from selling rights to pay-per-view boxing matches at a premium price to nightclubs, casinos, and country clubs here in the Memphis market. Home viewers can purchase these same events, but the pay-per-view promoter ridgidly enforces the showing of these events by public establishments who do not pay the premum price.

Although the Superbowl is not a pay-per-view event, it is a commodity with value. The policy was written before cable, satellite and pay-per-view broadcasts were available. But the NFL has even larger reasons to regulate showing the Superbowl in public than in they did in the 60's, particularly in Indianapolis and surrounding rural Indiana, which is a home team market this year.

"the league has a longstanding policy against “mass out-of-home viewings” of the Super Bowl, even if they don’t charge admission" -- Indianapolis Star

"The intent of the law, which dates to the 1960s, is to protect the NFL's television ratings by preventing large crowds from gathering to watch games in public places — where their viewing habits aren't measured by the Nielsen ratings. (The ratings only measure viewership at home.) Sports bars and other businesses that rely on televised sports to draw patrons are exempt." -- LAT

Commercial establishments like ightclubs, sports bars and casinos pay for cable and satellite feeds at a higher price than home viewers, if they can get them at all. Cable and satellite providers have every reason to regulate the use of their feeds, as does the NFL, for reasons of protecting the price structure of the service provided. This again is particulary true in the local market of a team where viewership is virtually guaranteed.

As a nightclub operator, I would be less likely to pay the premium price, knowing that anybody walking, be it a church, a country club, or private organization can show it to their membership, thereby diluting the customer base for my event.

In fact, I'm not sure if it is strictly legal for a church to be showing ANY cable or satellite broadcast in their sanctuary or fellowship hall without paying the premium price for the feed. Is the church "bootlegging"? Are they operating on a residential account? That illegal practice is common and possible here.

The specific question being pushed on Christian radio is "Why would the NFL stop a church from showing the Superbowl while allowing a casino or bar (aka "The Devil") to show it?"

Although it may be a bad public realtions move by the NFL, it is perfectly understandable from a business standpoint. I was not going to speak on this issue when the most hotly pursued discussion was on Christian radio. My thoughts would fall on deaf ears there. This issue has now reached the mainstream media, noted by MSNBC, where Countdown host Keith Olberman nominated the NFL as one of "Today's Worst Persons in the World" on the Friday broadcast. This really surprised me, given his background as a sports broadcaster.

I enjoy using this Email group for my research. I hope this contrubuted. Enjoy the Superbowl... somewhere. Go Colts!

James Manning 
Memphis, Tennessee
(just barely related to Peyton, Eli and Archie, not enough to be in the money, and they don't know me from Adam)


 
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