This has been a couple of years ago but this still applies today. I will prvide links below but there was a church that was going to have a Super Bowl party, as in the congregation sitting in the sanctuary (I think) or maybe a meeting hall with a big screen and enjoy.

The NFL found out about this and sent a cease and desist letter to this church that it is illegal for them to show the game, since the NFL is for "home use" (and this disclaimer is shown after every NFL game). Basically the game is only to be shown on TV inside a private home. For some asinine reason (why, please explain). So the NFL wants a thousand people to watch the game on a thousand TV screens and not a thousand people watching it on one screen.

The exception are bars. Why? Because bars sell Budwesier Beer. Budwesier is a huge advertiser for the NFL. So.....a church full of sober people cannot watch the game but drunk people in a bar can, with many driving home drunk.

Why does the NFL care if a huge amount of people (who arent drinking Anhauser Busch products) are watching their precious game on one screen? The first link says it is because of Neilsen ratings. If this is true, why not the ratings reflect the number of people watching one screen instead of counting each screen as one person? Why is there still a Nielsen rating anymore?

https://www.startchurch.com/blog/view/name/the-nfl-threatens-to-sue-churches

https://www.startchurch.com/blog/view/name/the-nfl-threatens-to-sue-churches

https://www.foxnews.com/story/nfl-thwarts-churchs-plan-to-show-super-bowl

Second, the NFL copyrighting "Super Bowl" or "Superbowl" or both. Personally, I dont think words should be owned or copyrighted. Second, the NFL can and has sued businesses for using "Super Bowl" in their adverisements. As in "Billy Bob Chevrolet in Conway Arkansas is having a blowout Superbowl sale!" The NFL can sue them. This is pettiness number two.

I wonder if the legal department of the National Football League gets satisfaction suing churches and small businesses for Billionaires. The NFL would have to pay me as a lawyer a lot of money to be so petty.

My comments will be limited to the NFL but they actually apply to all the major professional sports leagues.

The NFL is an unregulated monopoly operating with the power of a shadow government. It's a national disgrace and the Congress is to blame. The NFL has the power to tax everyone, fans and nonfans alike. New York State is about turn over 850 million taxpayer dollars to construct a stadium for the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are valued at 3.4 billion, why should the NYS taxpayers subsidize a stadium. This is just one example and it goes on all over the nation. But there's more, cable subscribers all over the country subsidize the NFL, whether they watch the games or not. ESPN carried on the basic tier has the highest per subscriber cost at $10 per subscriber with the hapless subscriber having no way to opt out. Up to 40% of every cable bill goes to the cost of carrying live sports programming on ESPN, the over the air networks, and regional sports networks.

The NFL and AFL should never have been allowed to merge. The league should be broken up and the operation of the football business should resemble the operations of any other business in the entertainment industry.

Bet they won't sue any mosques.

To Duster 76,

I agree that it is insane for the taxpayers to have to buy a stadium for an NFL team (or any major sports team). What is wrong is this instance for the City of Buffalo (actually a small city probably with limited resources) to just tell the Bills, no. You pay for a new stadium (I would as the government even offer tax breaks and incentives). What would the Buffalo Bills do? Leave? Where? In the 1990's into the 00's, a team could threaten to move to Los Angeles since Los Angeles lost their team(s). That is no longer a threat. Where else can they go? Maybe San Diego or St Louis? Columbus, Ohio? London? Mexico City? Not that great of choices really. Toronto is out because the Canadian government has laws to protect the Canadian Football League. The team has no where else to go.

St. Louis had the Rams for twenty years and then the Rams left back to Los Angeles. Now the (poor) city of St. Louis is stuck with a stadium with no uses. St Louis doesnt have any major colleges to play there, there are too many college Bowl games at it stands now, and even if there a Bowl played there, that is only once a year. Maybe if the city said "NO", and make the owner of the team build the stadium, they might not be so willing to pull up stakes and leave. The owner still can and might, but they would be the owners of an expensive yet worthless facility and would have to pay to maintain it or tear it down.

It is not only the NFL, but seemingly all the major sports leagues. My hometown of Memphis had to build a stadium for the NBA Grizzlies. I dont know, the stadium is used for other things and maybe it is making a profit, but my understanding is that the owner of the team is basically gifted the facility and they are the ones who make the revenue from it.

Actually John Oliver on "Last Week Tonight" did a show on stadiums, on how cities have to build them and really how bad of an investment, stadiums really are.

My city of Memphis tried for ages to get an NFL team, but it never happened. I was sad as a kid that my city didnt have their own team to root for, but now I see the NFL for what they are and how much of a money pit it would have been. Nashville got the team and the people there will have to pay for their upkeep.

What's the difference in a bunch of people gathering to watch in a church and a bunch of people watching at a party in a private home?

This is asinine!

My ex-church had Super Bowl parties for awhile...until my ex-pastor had a scandal...but after Super Bowl XXXVII...where the Ravens beat the 49ers...I NEVER watched another Super Bowl!

Now I have more reasons to boycott The Super Bowl and watch Groundhogs Day instead!

The last Super Bowl I watched was years ago, the Saints and the Colts and the Saints won! Never in my life would I ever think that the New Orleans Saints would win the Super Bowl. It was a close and exciting game also.

But unless it is the Saints again, or the Browns or Lions, I probably wont bother. I dont care about the Browns or Lions except their fans have gone through so much misery (since literally the Eisenhower administration).

For any church worried about a ridiculous "cease and desist" letter from the NFL's attorneys, all they need to be concerned about are window coverings and locked doors (after all attending parishioners have arrived). Of course then how could anyone from outside prove what was being viewed at the gathering? These threats have no "teeth," most people realize.

Anyway, another stadium is set to be abandoned in the near future, as the Chicago Bears are planning a new "taxpayer-backed" stadium in suburban Arlington Heights, IL. Historic Soldier Field will lose its tenant:

"The Arlington Heights Village Board unanimously approved a pre-development agreement for the Bears to redevelop Arlington Racetrack into a $5 billion mixed-use district with a stadium, hotels, offices, restaurants and more."

This stuff is never-ending. I might add that in pro basketball, an antitrust suit blocked the NBA-ABA merger for a few years (early 70s), but ultimately it went through. Powerful leagues with teams of lawyers, that's US pro sports.

The last Super Bowl I watched was years ago, the Saints and the Colts and the Saints won! Never in my life would I ever think that the New Orleans Saints would win the Super Bowl. It was a close and exciting game also.

But unless it is the Saints again, or the Browns or Lions, I probably wont bother. I dont care about the Browns or Lions except their fans have gone through so much misery (since literally the Eisenhower administration).

The Cleveland Clowns will NEVER be in The Super Bowl! The Detroit Lions have a better chance...as well as The Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars!