The NFL social networking policy

Many people call the NFL the No Fun League, and that apparently is going to continue as the NFL today new rules for players and NFL officials concerning Social Networking. Many will say that the NFL is missing a golden opportunity to connect with new generations of NFL fans, and there may be a point to that. However the NFL doesn’t want to expose itself, employees, or players to potential lawsuits from Social Networking devices.

NFL players will continue to be allowed to use Social Networking sites and may even post on Twitter up to 90 minutes before a game. After the game players, coaches and Football operations personnel will have to follow standard NFL interview rules in their use of social networking sites.

All game officials and personnel working in the officiating department are banned for social networking sites. The NFL feels this is necessary to protect the integrity of the game. While these actions make the NFL seem to not understand the digital age in which we live. I don’t see how an official tweeting would ruin the integrity of the NFL game.

The league also extended its ban on play by play descriptions of games to cover all social networking platforms. Meaning Tweeters out there shouldn’t be tweeting play by play stuff about games in progress. The League is shutting off a very valuable marketing tool not only to itself but too its teams. It seems that having maybe one player, possibly a third string QB, or kicker tweeting about the game from the sidelines would be a popular feature for many existing NFL fans. Think about the new fans the NFL could draw in with such a tool.