Tom Brady of the Buccaneers tries to find an open receiver at a loss zone throughout the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Training Camp on August 04, 2020 at the AdventHealth Training Center in Tampa, Florida.
Cliff Welch | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
As Covid-19 is setting fire to fall college sports, the National Football League may be seeking to change its schedule to consist of Saturday video games, maybe even Friday contests, however there is one challenge – U.S. law.
Chapter 32 in Title 15 of the United States Code mentions the NFL is restricted from airing its material on Friday nights beginning at 6 p.m. or “on any Saturday” as high school and college football video games usually inhabit those days/time slots in the fall.
The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 was passed to permit sports companies, consisting of the NFL, exemption from the Sherman Antitrust Act, permitting leagues to bundle their groups’ material rights into one plan and offer those rights to TELEVISION networks.
The law, which was presented by New York Rep. Emanuel Celler and signed by President John F. Kennedy in September 1961, caused the NFL’s very first huge offer with CBS in 1962 for approximately $4.6 million.
The 1961 sports act likewise consisted of terms that secured high school and college football video games. The law states the NFL isn’t permitted to reveal video games “during the period beginning on the second Friday in September and ending on the second Saturday in December in any year from any telecasting station located within seventy-five miles of the game site of any intercollegiate or interscholastic football contest scheduled to be played.”
With the Big Ten and Pac-12 ending up being the very first of the Power Five conferences to hold off football seasons due to Covid-19, the NFL was stated to be checking out moving video games to Saturday, and maybe Friday, too.
Mike Arthur, senior vice president of Veritone, which recommends the Big Ten on its marketing and material licensing, likewise pointed out TELEVISION “networks will come calling sooner than later once they fully know what’s going on with college football.”
The NFL presently has media rights handle significant networks, consisting of CBS, NBC and Fox, that generate more than $5 billion yearly.
On Wednesday, The Washington Post likewise reported the NFL might need a wavier to relay video games on Saturdays, however likewise kept in mind the league “would be leery of damaging its relationship with college football.”
Though the Big Ten and Pac-12 played it safe, the Southeastern Conference, which produced $721 million in earnings for 2019, the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 still strategy to hold football seasons in the meantime.
Also, the NFL would require approval from the National Football League Players Association, and initial conversations have actually not happened.Â
The NFL did not return calls from CNBC looking for remark.
The NFL, which canceled its preseason due to Covid-19, is set up to open its 2020 season on Sept. 10 on NBC when the protecting Super Bowl champ Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans.
Disclosure: NBC Sports, which shares moms and dad NBCUniversal with CNBC, broadcasts NFL video games.
