What is the Sport Broadcasting Act and how does it apply to the NFL?
The Sport Broadcasting Act of 1961 permits joint broadcasting agreements among the major professional sports. This allows the selling of package deals to television networks. The act also includes "blackout rules" which apply to teams playing at home who are having trouble with attendance. These rules "blackout" other competing game broadcasts to entice the local people further to either watch the local game being broadcast or attend the games in their area.
This act relates to the NFL because it was based off a court's ruling that the NFL's method of negotiating television broadcasting rights violated antitrust laws. The court ruled that giving a certain television network the exclusive rights to broadcast all NFL games was illegal. This act overrules this decision, as you can see from earlier, and allows the NFL, as well as other professional sports teams, to package their game to certain television networks. This is why you see NFL games only being broadcast on certain channels such as CBS, NBC, Fox, and recently ESPN. The NFL does strictly enforce the "blackout" rule also to ensure that stadiums are filled out and sold.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6384863
Mike Leake of the Cincinnati Reds was arrested on a shoplifting charge, accused of stealing 6 shirts from a department store worth a total of $59.88. Leake currently makes $425,000 in his second season in the majors and doesn't deny the charges. He apologized for the distraction, but it appears he actually tried to steal these shirts even though he makes well into the six figures. This charges carries a maximum of 180 days in jail which I'm sure he will not serve any of.
No comments:
Post a Comment