NFL, CBS ad issue simmers

Michelle Swafford

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

CBS won't broadcast the Super Bowl again for at least another three years, but the NFL still intends to talk to the network about why Las Vegas ads ran on some of its affiliates during Sunday's Super Bowl.

Las Vegas-based R&R Partners, the advertising agency for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, purchased ads directly in five of the top media markets from CBS affiliates.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the NFL will talk with the head of the CBS affiliate group and the network itself to find out what happened, but no action will likely be taken.

"What's done is done and we can't go back and change that," Aiello said "(The NFL will) try to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

He said the NFL's longstanding policy prohibits any ads affiliated with Las Vegas as a destination during the airing of its football games because "Las Vegas is synonymous with sports gambling when an ad of that type is running during one of our game telecasts."

CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said that for now it's a moot point if the NFL prohibits CBS affiliates from selling ad slots promoting Las Vegas during future Super Bowl games because CBS won't air the Super Bowl again for at least three years. The Fox network will carry the 2005 game.

"We don't have the Super Bowl again in the current contract," he said. "We won't have it for three years."

Local station managers decide what ads they consider acceptable for their audiences, McClintock said. He declined to comment on whether the NFL should have the authority to control ad content on CBS' stations.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority paid a total of $1.5 million for Sunday's ad spots that featured an aerial view of the Las Vegas Strip and talked about how fun it is to be in Las Vegas. The ads aired during the Super Bowl in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, New York City and San Francisco.