With the increased interest in Facebook Live, Periscope, and Snapchat, you would think the NFL would want its 32 teams to use video to promote themselves and the league on social media.
Nope.
Starting Wednesday, those teams can be fined for violating the league’s updated social media policy regarding video, according to multiple reports.
Teams are no longer allowed to shoot video inside the stadium during the game and post that to social media between kickoff and up to an hour after the game. They also cannot use any app to stream live inside the stadium.
They are also not allowed to post TV highlights to social media or create animated GIFs from highlights. And they are limited to about 45 video posts total on game days.
The rules were reportedly instituted in September, but teams were still violating them. Teams could now be fined $25,000 for the first violation, $50,000 for a second, and up to $100,000 for each violation after that.
The league is trying to keep videos on team and league websites so the NFL can maintain control of how it’s released. Another example of this: The NFL is one of the few professional sports leagues that does not provide embed codes of the videos on its websites. These codes would allow other websites to “host” NFL video. The NFL would still get the “clicks," and their pre-roll ads would be seen by the viewer.
