NFL hard liquor advertising ban lifted, signaling possible change on other issues
The NFL will now allow its television partners to sell advertising space to hard liquor manufacturers. This puts in doubt whether the league will stick to its guns on other matters like the legalization of betting on sports.
For years the only liquor ads allowed to be shown during NFL games on TV were for beer. The NFL hard liquor advertising ban has been rescinded according to E.J. Schultz of Ad Age. It’s likely that the same course could be taken on gambling.
The benefit for the NFL is clear, although perhaps indirect. In order for the league to continue to get huge hauls for the rights to broadcast its games on television, one thing has to be true of NFL games on television — they have to command hundreds of millions of dollars from companies who wish to advertise during the games.
As the league suffered a drop in overall TV ratings last season, creating a new market for its product made sense. Few things are a more natural fit than sport entertainment and alcohol. Rescinding this ban will allow the NFL’s TV partners to pursue a new stream of advertising revenue. That in turn enhances the chances that the league will continue to get billions of dollars from those TV partners for the rights to broadcast the games.
#NFL to reverse longstanding hard liquor ban and allow companies to purchase up to four 30-sec ads per game. #sportsbiz #sponsorship
— Windy Dees (@getDeestweets) June 3, 2017
What happened to cause this reversal of stance is likely quite elementary. The NFL probably saw that its moral stance on advocating the intake of alcohol was irrelevant, as fans at bars and in their homes partake of spirits regularly regardless of the fact that the NFL barred the advertising of said spirits. Furthermore, the league took note of the potential financial benefit, and there simply was no downside to making the change.
Regardless of the spin coming out of the league, the same process could easily persuade the NFL to completely reverse course on sports betting as well. As recently as January, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had the following to say about the league’s official stance on the legalization of betting on its games.
"“We’ve seen the changes in the culture around the country in gambling,” Goodell said. “We’re obviously very sensitive to that, but we’re also going to evaluate the Raiders case on the relocation application in what’s in the overall best interests of the league. But one thing we can’t ever do is compromise on the game. That’s one of the things we’ll do is to make sure the policies we’ve created, if we did in any way approve the Raiders, I don’t see us compromising on any of the policies.”"
The key words to notice there are in Goodell’s first two sentences. The league is watching the cultural shift on gambling that is ongoing. A bill has been proposed in the United States House of Representatives that would repeal federal legislation outlawing betting on sports, deferring to state laws instead. Many states, like Illinois, are similarly processing legislation that would legalize gambling within their borders.
The reality, acknowledged by these states which are working to enact legislation, is that thousands of Americans are already betting on sports using off-shore platforms, technically illegally. By keeping it impermissible, the various state governments are not only leaving their citizens vulnerable without consumer protections, but also missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential tax revenue.
The tide of public sentiment and government involvement in sports betting is turning. Like state governments, the NFL could change its tune on the matter as soon as it figures out how to get its cut of the action. What just happened with the hard liquor ban shows the potential for this reversal.
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The NFL may say it will always be fiercely opposed to legalized sports betting. It’s actions are screaming so loudly, however, that it is hard to hear its words over them.