What is going on with the NFL? They seem determined to keep picking fights with their coaches and teams. If all the changes they were making to the technical elements of football weren’t enough, they continue to divert debates away from the online NFL betting odds by introducing even more controversial changes.
Then again, maybe the new video sharing rules are not nearly as controversial as some people are suggesting because they do not actually change the game of football as a whole.
Either way, they will probably rub a few people the wrong way. If you are not up to date with all the news coming out of the NFL, the league recently added a few clauses and provisions to their social media policy that essentially ban the recording and sharing of video content on social media during games.
A lot of people have suggested that the new social media policy is making the NFL very anti-fan friendly, though the NFL might disagree with that assessment.
The idea of these new regulations is simple: while games are progressing, members of the NFL are prohibited from using apps like Periscope and Facebook Live to share any information about the game, especially highlights and updates of one sort or another.
It has become the norm for teams to go live on social media during games to provide fans authentic behind-the-scenes experiences; however, the NFL is now putting a stop to such behavior.
The NFL has especially emphasized its determination to stop teams from posting video highlights during games, and this includes animated GIFs; these new rules are applicable from the start of the game to 60 minutes after it finally ends.
That doesn’t mean that fans cannot acquire accurate highlights and updates about NFL games; there are NFL officials who will post specific video highlights during games, and it is within the power of teams and players to retweet and repost these highlights.
And none of these are strongly worded suggestions. There are some real penalties attached to the new policies, with fines ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 depending on the nature of the offense.
Fans won’t be happy with these new regulations. Posts from the official NFL account are fine, however, they lack the energy and electricity that team posts provide to fans, especial those that are unable to watch the game for any reason.
One also wonders whether the NFL has the manpower to keep fans abreast of all updates. It is fine when there is only one game taking place at any given moment, but how about situations where there are seven games going on at once?
Can the NFL provide detailed updates of every single play? That seems unlikely. Everyone agrees that allowing the teams to take on this responsibility makes more sense.
One wonders whether the NFL can afford to pursue this social media policy at a time when they are experiencing a notable decline in ratings. Social media drives viewership and the NFL is essentially tying its own hands by crafting this policy change at a time when they need as many people talking about their games on social media as possible.
