"The Big Game" showings

[Mike Blakesley]

So far I have spotted two small theaters that are planning free showings of "the big game" next week. I've always been told by my booker that doing this would result in big angry ex-football players who are now high-priced lawyers descending on my building with bulldozers or at least cease-and-desist letters, so I've never entertained the thought of doing such a thing (even though it would be lots of fun and we'd probably sell a lot of popcorn.)

But I'm just curious if anyone out there is doing these kinds of events, did you have to pay a huge fee to do it, how much was the fee, or did you just fly under the radar and plan to apologize later, or did you do it last year and get yelled at, etc.?

I'm going to keep my eye on these two locations to see if they actually go thru with it. One of them has just posted a "anybody interested?" notice on their socials, and the other one has actually created an "event" for it.

[John Eickhof]

years back, when i was gm of the mv13 we were set to run it on our 85ft giant screen for free but would be serving beer and wine for a charge, 1 day before the game we were served with a cease and desist order from the NFL because our local tv station caught wind of the exhibition plans and got it stopped unless the theatre owner wanted to pay the NFL a $15k license fee for the one time show! I talked with the station mgr to no avail and even showed him his stations ads on the giant screen touting how his advertisers would be impressed! he would not back down and thus it never happened and the theatre owner avoided a rather expensive lawsuit... ( the NFL said they would take him to the cleaners!) I did run the series baseball games but only did it in house for employees only, it was pretty cool to see the bat splinters fly off and the sweat on the brow of a batter who's face was 20 feet wide! the NFL would not negotiate either!

[Martin McCaffery]

I seem to recall from a previous discussion that the NFL will not allow showing their games on any screen bigger than 65 in. So it's ok to show in bars, but not theatres (unless the theatre sets up a bunch of 65in flat screen around the concessions stand).

ETA: https://www.goelevent.com/Sidewalk/e...eSidewalkLobby

[Rick Cohen]

Firstly, showing an NFL game is not subject to criminal law, so you can't get arrested. It may be subject to civil law, where the NFL feels its rights have been violated, and they are entitled to damages. Bars and restaurants can "get away" with showing NFL games due to what the NFL considers to be "fair use" of their product.

The guidelines set out by the NFL which effectively deny theatres the opportunity to show NFL games are:
1. The venue must only show NFL games on screens which are comparable to what is normally found in an average home.
2. The venue must NOT charge an admission fee of any kind.
3. The venue must show sporting events on a regular basis, not just a one-off type of event.

I am a former theatre owner, and I have shown several NFL games in the past between 2014 and 2021. I have received several "cease and desist" emails from NFL attorneys, which I mainly choose to ignore. I have never been "sued" by the NFL, although they maintain the right to do so, if they choose.

I am not an attorney, but I will offer my opinions. The conditions which the NFL places on venues which allows or justifies having bars and restaurants show NFL games to the public are blatantly arbitrary, and would not hold up in front of a judge or jury. Tell me how it makes any difference whatsoever, to the point where they are entitled to damages, if a theatre shows an NFL game on a big screen for no admission fee, but charges patrons for food and drinks just like a bar or restaurant does. Because the screen is bigger? Arbitrary and immaterial. Because theatres show movies instead of sports events on a regular basis? Also arbitrary, immaterial, and possibly a free speech issue.

Taking into consideration all of the above information, it is likely not worthwhile to risk getting sued by the NFL, which has limitless legal resources, and will likely appeal any lower court decisions if they were to lose and the theatre were to win, all the way at least to a state supreme court. Is it worthwhile for a theatre owner to take on those legal expenses, which would likely drag on for years? Probably not.

The NFL won't grant express permission for an event unless it directly benefits them, or its sponsors. Even for a charitable event. They may choose to look the other way, or send a "cease and desist" letter/email, without actually filing a lawsuit just to protect their rights.

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/bi...r-third-season

I have noticed several "downtown events" where a whole city block is quartered off, and local bars/restaurants set up enormous LED video screens (nowhere near what you might find in an average home) with outdoor speakers, charging an admission fee, and offer tables with food/beverage service. Maybe the NFL has changed its mind regarding large screen presentations, or is willing to make rare exceptions? I don't really know. Apparently, it's okay if an NFL team and a corporate sponsor is involved.

[Lyle Romer]

I don't see how the NFL has any legal power if the broadcast is received via an over the air antenna as long as you don't charge admission. You don't need to agree to terms and conditions to receive an over the air broadcast.

I would think it is perfectly legal to show the broadcast and sell concessions. There could probably be some legal technicality if you use a DVR to show the broadcast as it might very technically be considered a rebroadcast.

[Harold Hallikainen]

I think copyright owners have wide latitude as to what they can authorize or not eith their works.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Having had the "distinctive pleasure" to have dealt with IP negotiations in the past, my conclusion is that once copyright and other IP rights start getting involved, it's almost never easy. In fact, it often is so difficult (and most of it on purpose), that the very companies that earn their living with selling IP often don't exactly know what the rules are...

It's like dealing with your local tax office or the Microsoft Licensing helpdesk, never expect a concise, binding or even borderline correct answer.

I don't see how the NFL has any legal power if the broadcast is received via an over the air antenna as long as you don't charge admission. You don't need to agree to terms and conditions to receive an over the air broadcast.

That's only true if it's been broadcasted in unencrypted form. As soon as there is some kind of encryption employed, even if it's Rot13, the entire thing falls under the DMCA and is therefore subject to all copyright restrictions the copyright owner has put onto it.

I doubt there were any official, free, unencrypted transmissions of "the big game" and as such, the legality of showing this on the big screen without the permission from the NFL or any of their licensees will be highly doubtful and maybe not worth the risk. While I doubt that the NFL will put forward the effort to sue every individual pub that showed the game without a valid license, larger venues like (movie) theaters may not be so lucky.

[Darin Steffl]

The game is always broadcast on one of the big 4 local channels. This year it was FOX. These are all broadcast over the air (OTA) for free and unencrypted with an antenna. Other methods to watch are encrypted for sure like cable, Sat, and streaming.

So if you can watch it for free OTA, you can't really agree to any terms of service which should mean you have rights to show it anywhere. The local channels use spectrum allocated to them by the US Government so they can't limit access. All that said, they still have more money and power to sue you and waste your money, even if they'd lose.

[Armand Daiguillon]

We did this at our location. We were told that is was ok to do with two major conditions - one can't charge for admission and second you could not refer to it as the "super bowl" or even list it as the team names as those are trademarked and can not be used in our "third party" advertiseing without permission. Rebroadcasting the local feed for free and advertising it only as "the big game", seemed to be ok.
Of course only 5 people showed up so ..... probably wont bother with it again.

[Mike Blakesley]

The theater that created an "event" got very little in the way of likes, shares or comments, so I'm not sure how it went for them. (It was the Graham Theatre in North Carolina, a second-run venue that was famous for their owner, "Tim Bob," telling corny jokes on their answering machine.)

The other one was in North Dakota and they never got any response at all on their Facebook post, so I'm not sure if they even actually did it.

I was always under the impression that the bars and restaurants paid a big fee to have the rights to the NFL games, but maybe they really don't?

[Marcel Birgelen]

The game is always broadcast on one of the big 4 local channels. This year it was FOX. These are all broadcast over the air (OTA) for free and unencrypted with an antenna. Other methods to watch are encrypted for sure like cable, Sat, and streaming.

So if you can watch it for free OTA, you can't really agree to any terms of service which should mean you have rights to show it anywhere. The local channels use spectrum allocated to them by the US Government so they can't limit access. All that said, they still have more money and power to sue you and waste your money, even if they'd lose.

There still might be a catch there. I don't know the local laws applicable to all jurisdictions, but over here in Europe, we don't have the DMCA, so decrypting the content would actually be legal (although selling unlicensed equipment that breaks that encryption is not legal... it's complicated...), as long as the signal was free to receive. Still, showing it to a bigger audience would be problematic, as copyright also is applicable to "rebroadcasting" and "republication". A public viewing would be considered such a republication and such, would still fall under the rights of the copyright holder.

Some cinemas around here have broadcasted live soccer events like some of the major World Championship matches. Back when digital 3D was still a relatively new thing and some people thought it would eventually even become a thing at home, some of those matches were even broadcast in 3D. Every venue required to have a special license for those broadcasts. But on the other hand, a lot of bars around here show the same content on medium to large screens without paying for a special license.

What I've heard from one bar owner I know personally, is that apparently, for stuff that's been broadcasted on the national public channels, nobody is really bothering if you play their content on big screens. It's considered public and free for distribution. But for stuff on paid channels like ESPN, you pay a lot extra and the amount you pay is based on the size of the venue and apparently, they're checking up on venues that are playing their content and if you get caught playing it without a proper license, they'll start sending you mail with an offer to rectify the situation for quite an hefty amount...