Saturday, January 31, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

COPYRIGHT CHALLENGE: Parties get bowled over

NFL forces casinos to downsize TVs, not charge admission

Richard Lyons, left, and Rick Steinmer install 42-inch plasma-screen televisions Friday at the Fantasy Market Buffet at the Palms. The hotel put televisions in the restaurant for its Super Bowl party after the NFL objected to a screening on a movie-theater screen. Photo by Jeff Scheid.

Zealously protecting its copyright of the Super Bowl football championship, the National Football League and its lawyers have forced at least two Las Vegas resorts to cancel events that would have charged patrons to attend parties and watch the Super Bowl on giant screens.

Other Las Vegas resorts have changed or are considering changing their party plans to comply with the NFL's requirement that venues not charge admission to watch the big game and that the Super Bowl not be displayed on screens larger than 55 inches diagonally.

At least six Las Vegas resorts received letters from NFL lawyers in the past couple of weeks advising them that their advertised Super Bowl parties appeared to violate terms of the NFL's copyright. The letters warned the gaming companies that the league would take all necessary steps to protect its rights.

The crux of the issue, and why they are so interested in protecting the league's Super Bowl copyright, is money, NFL officials admit.

"What's happening is that these establishments are charging admission for something we provide for free," league spokesman Brian McCarthy said Friday. "The viewers (at these events) are not captured in ratings. That, in turn, hurts our advertisers."

And the advertisers sustain the networks that pay the NFL its rights fees, he said.

The NFL's threats weren't confined to Las Vegas, McCarthy said, noting that venues in New England and North Carolina, home to this year's Super Bowl contestants New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, also received cease-and-desist letters.

McCarthy said the key issues the league considers when deciding whether an event violates the NFL's rights are the size of the locale, the size of the screens displaying the games and whether patrons are charged admission.

The Orleans canceled a concert and Super Bowl party planned for its new arena, and the Palms canceled one party that would have shown the game on a movie-theater screen, all because the NFL demanded the properties comply with the league's copyright.

The Palms received its letter from the NFL on Jan. 16, Palms general manager Jim Hughes said. A party planned for a screen at its Brendan Cineplex was canceled because the screen was too large, and plans were canceled to charge admission to its remaining Super Bowl parties.

The property probably will lose about 1,000 paid $40 entries and will foot the bill to line up 120 50-inch plasma televisions so fans still can watch the game on big screen televisions.

"We'll take a pretty big financial hit," Hughes said.

Customers who already bought tickets to the Palms parties will have their tickets refunded.

Boyd Gaming executives said the company's Super Bowl parties at the Stardust and Sam's Town made minor adjustments to comply with the NFL's letter.

Boyd venues won't charge admission and, instead of giant screens, will use smaller screen TVs.

"It was never our intent to charge people to watch the game," Boyd spokesman Rob Stillwell said.

Coast Casinos lawyer Barry Lieberman did not return Friday phone messages.

The MGM Grand also was planning a Super Bowl party that drew the NFL's attention but it was unclear Friday what it would do.

"The only thing I can say at this point is our legal counsel is reviewing the matter. I don't know anything more than that, except that our lawyers are reviewing the situation," said Scott Ghertner, the MGM-Mirage director of sports and promotions.

The NFL's complaints about the hotel-casinos' Super Bowl parties does not apply to their normal sports book operations, since companies that operate the books purchase special packages allowing them to air football games for the convenience of their customers.

This is not the first time the NFL and Las Vegas have crossed swords over the Super Bowl broadcast.

Last year, the NFL drew the ire of many local tourism and civic officials when the league blocked the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's attempts to buy ad time during the game from the Super Bowl's host network. The league refused the ads last year and again this year because it claims they indirectly promote gambling.