Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Goodman calls NFL ad decision hypocritical

The National Football League's labeling of a Las Vegas commercial as unsuitable for broadcast during the Super Bowl is hypocritical because an NFL affiliate website teaches people how to gamble, Mayor Oscar Goodman said Thursday.

It was the latest salvo in the controversy that has played out nationally on the pages of The Wall Street Journal and USA Today as well as on cable TV talk shows such as "Crossfire." It may also wind up being a courtroom showdown if the mayor has his way.

The NFL's official website, NFL.com, does not give gambling information. However, the website says it is "in association with CBS.SportsLine.Com," a site that offers betting lines as well as information on sports betting and gambling terms.

An August memo from the NFL to ABC, the network that will broadcast the Jan. 26 Super Bowl, says the reason for banning the Las Vegas commercial is "that an association between the NFL and gambling -- even in an advertising context -- could have a uniquely negative effect on the public's perception of our sport, its integrity and our athletes."

Attempts to reach the NFL Thursday to ask why the policy does not apply to the CBS Sports website were not successful.

Goodman said the website -- which defines "point spread," "over/under" bets, "the moneyline," and the "juice or vigorish" -- shows the NFL officials to be "hypocritical ... phonies."

The Las Vegas advertisement that was intended for the Super Bowl broadcast made no reference or mention of sports betting.

"They are so arrogant, so holier than thou," Goodman said after his weekly news conference Thursday.

Goodman said at his news conference that if the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority did not press a lawsuit, he has asked City Attorney Brad Jerbic to look into potential suits dealing with civil rights violations, defamation and antitrust restraint of trade.

Goodman said the city could get a temporary restraining order that would put the Las Vegas commercials on TV during the upcoming Super Bowl.

Goodman, a member of the LVCVA board of directors, argued that the NFL is a "quasi-government" agency and cannot trample on the city's free speech rights to promote itself on a network. He called it third-party interference.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which has been at odds with the city's attempts to refuse ads on public parking meters and other city-owned property by so-called undesirable businesses like strip joints, found it interesting that Goodman used that organization's argument to press this case.

"We are pleased that the mayor recognizes that government entities cannot discriminate and we would hope that he would apply that same principle to the city's contracts on parking meter ads and other forms of advertisement," ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein.

The NFL has said that the hoopla raised by Las Vegas officials is doing more to attract interest to the commercials than if they actually were to run on Super Bowl Sunday.

Goodman calls them "edgy and provocative," but not "pornographic."

The rejected Las Vegas ads, called "Vegas Stories," were produced by R&R Partners, the LVCVA's contracted advertising agency, and were directed by Brian Buckley, who supervised ESPN's "This Is SportsCenter" campaign.

Some of the most creative advertising campaigns have debuted during the Super Bowl, which is in its 37th year. It is television's most-watched event, with more than 130 million people expected to tune in this month and advertisers shelling out $2.1 million for a 30-second spot.

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