Sick of hearing it called 'The Big Game.' It's called the Super Bowl. Not The Big Game. The Super Bowl. I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure the NFL is ok with people calling it by its proper name in the proper context by people who are licensed by the FCC to talk about it.
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PSA: it's ok to say "Super Bowl" in news script
- Thread starter indieradioguy
- Start date
You are wrong. To use the words on the air, you must pay for the right.
I think it's OK in a newscast or a sports talk show, but not in advertising -- either on-air or on a storefront window -- unless the sponsor has paid the NFL.
In other words, your local sports bar is allowed to hang a Budweiser sign that says "Super Bowl LI", but they can't put an ad in their window that says "Watch the Super Bowl here." And your local TV station can mention the game by name on its air, but not the station's advertisers unless they themselves are sponsors of the game (i.e. paid the NFL).
And it shouldn't be a problem mentioning it here... I hope. (Frank?)
I thought 'Super Bowl' could be used by news and entertainment but not in association with events not directly linked to the football game itself.
For instance, stories about ticket prices to the Super Bowl are OK but a "Super Bowl" sale by a tire store were not. To use the Super Bowl description would require licensing by the NFL.
Edit: Looks like I stepped on KeithE4 but we have the same understanding.
For instance, stories about ticket prices to the Super Bowl are OK but a "Super Bowl" sale by a tire store were not. To use the Super Bowl description would require licensing by the NFL.
Edit: Looks like I stepped on KeithE4 but we have the same understanding.
No problem mentioning it here.
If they said "the big game" on a PSA, I'm sure there is a reason.
If they said "the big game" on a PSA, I'm sure there is a reason.
I personally think the NFL shot itself in the foot with the licensing requirement. In times of old they were getting an enormous amount of free publicity (when the game wasn't the huuuuge event it is today). As soon as they figured out how to mine more money out of the name they began enforcing the licensing.
Everybody on Earth, with the exception of certain North Koreans, know the game is called the Super Bowl and they also know it is also known as the Big Game.
I'm pretty sure Nexstar stations, by corporate edict, does not use the phrase "Super Bowl" anywhere at any time to make sure they are covered.
I think the terms "Final Four" and "Frozen Four" are NCAA-owned. "March Madness" used to be co-owned by the NCAA and the Illinois High School Association, who came up with the term originally for its high school basketball tournaments, but it's owned completely by the NCAA now, with the IHSA still allowed to use it for its tournaments.
"Sweet Sixteen" is owned by the Kentucky High School Athletic Assn., who licenses it to the NCAA. I haven't seen any trademark info for "Elite Eight."
Bowl games in football are owned either by Disney/ESPN (who owns a lot of the smaller bowls outright), or by the other individual bowl owners. For example, the Rose Bowl game & name are owned by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association. AFAIK, none of the bowls are owned directly by the NCAA.
Final Four, The Road To The Final Four, Women's Final Four, The Final Four, Live At The Final Four, Read To The Final Four, are all trademarks of the NCAA. (That last one is for a NCAA sponsored literacy program).
There's also a company in Indianapolis called Trademark King that is squatting on NCAA Final Four, and (year) NCAA Final Four (city) for every city that has been named as hosting the tournament from now to 2020. It looks like that company exists to trademark phrases and then lease the rights to others. Nice work if you can get it.
Frozen Four is also a NCAA trademark.
"College Football Playoff" is owned by the BCS, but it's limited to merchandising.
As for The Big Game That Must Not Be Named, I had to read and sign an affidavit stating that I understood 4 pages of rules to keep me from saying something on the air or on social media that would get the station sued by the NFL... Or as the memo that accompanied it said, "just call it 'the Big Game' so you don't screw it up."
NPR stations that carry the BBC World Service's news programming all aired the forbidden words yesterday. World Service newscasts mentioned the Super Bowl by name throughout the day. Are U.S. stations that failed to censor those newscasts now liable?
Specific news coverage is permitted. It's all about intent. If you intend to profit in any way from the copyright, you're liable. If you're just reporting on something that happened, it's OK.
Example: I can say "The Super Bowl is tomorrow" or "The Patriots beat the Falcons in overtime in Super Bowl 51" and be fine. I'm not making any money from that statement.
But I can't say "Join me at our Super Bowl Bash at CityCentre where we'll be broadcasting live" because it's not an event hosted by the official committee nor does my station hold broadcast rights. (So, we did an event called The Big Game Bash.) Nor can the infamous furniture store owner in my town who refunds the purchase of customers say "Spend $7000 or more and pick the winner of the Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Falcons and get your money back." Instead his copy reads "Pick the winner of the big football game between the team from Boston and the team from Atlanta."
Even outside of The Big Game, the NFL will hit you with a C&D to stop you from giving away game tickets on air before you can count up to caller 12 unless your station holds the broadcast rights of the team, and only the station that buys the rights can incorporate any portion of the team's name into its programming.
Well, the Illinois Lottery's use of the term outlasted the XFL's trademarks of "The Big Game," "The Big Game At The End Of The Season," and "The Big Game At The End."
It took me a bit to get a response, but I asked my daughter to inquire of 20 or 25 customers in her husband's retail store about what the "Superbowl" was. About 85% had no clue.
Try asking about the "Super Bowl" next time. (It is two words. But then, as a copy editor, I've found "Superbowl" in an article to be a reliable indicator of the writer's lack of interest in football or, often, any sport.)
Oh, and I am stunned to see you, of all people, citing a nonscientific sampling!
Since I have only watched one of them one time (the most recent one) and don't understand the rules, I guess I fit that definition.
This was meant as a random example of how, in most places outside the US, American rules football is unknown or not understood and definitely not followed except by an elite few who may have gone to school or college here. The poll was done in a major mall in Quito, Ecuador.
In fact, the poll was biased as malls there appeal to upper income people only, so were it done on the street in lower income levels there would have been total ignorance of what the "Súperbol" was.
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I was using "worldwide" with some amount of journalistic license. I would not expect people in Africa or S. America to follow the USA in most subjects, let alone our form of "futbol". I have traveled extensively in Western Europe, the UK, Eire, SE Asia and Japan and it is somewhat shocking (to me) to see NFL team logos worn by natives and some NFL games (or accounts) televised on local TV. I had no idea the NFL had that sort of following.
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