The NFL and church
Friday, February 2nd, 2007 I generally hate the way copyright law is structured, but this
http://techdirt.com/article.php?sid=20070201/140812 seems like an
instance of a corp REALLY shooting themselves in the foot. more than usual. There’s
the potential of seriously annoying a large group of people to no real
economic gain, AND there was money to be made by choosing a different
strategy.
The stance they chose (after the church tried to compromise)
effectively was about trying to pick a fight or restrict access. Was
there any chance that a church was going to attempt to negotiate a
license, when even bars don’t pay one? No. Football is not a core part
of any church’s ministry.
If the NFL had chosen instead to find a way to cooperate that wouldn’t
have weakened their perceived ownership of their intellectual
property, they could have gained significantly in viewership of
marginals and support. People who don’t NEED (or perhaps even WANT)
to watch the superbowl, but would for the sake of a fun gathering, or
even to help with support. (policing food, drinks, and kids) (yeah,
many of these wouldn’t watch much of the game or commercials, but
probably more than they would have otherwise) Some people will still
find a “fun gathering” at a local bar, but for most businesses the
goal is to EXPAND your market, not filter it. (by “those who feel
comfortable in a bar” for instance)
ADDITIONALLY, many churches have had a long-standing internal conflict
about the issue of “are you committed to Christ or The Game”, and some
moderate sports fans, people who actually WANT to watch, have been
choosing church INSTEAD, (and in most cases dealing with VCRs and
other issues like premature revelation of the conclusion) Some of
them probably just “give it a miss”, as they are really more hockey or
baseball fans than football. Rather than encourage this group (and
get their “neilson ratings”, which don’t track VCRs and PVRs well) the
NFL prefers to promote division and trouble.
So the NFL is turning off: support people, significant others,
groupies, and low-to-moderate sport fans.
They are gaining: Exclusivity for Die-hard fans, maybe less of a
“family friendly” image, annoyance of some pastors who may call for a
boycott, visibility of stupid copyright laws, “free advertising” in
the form of a conflict (though as “the bad guy”)