A West Valley lawmaker was sacked by a Senate committee, as his effort to curtail the National Football League’s control over media in the Cardinals’ stadium was met with resounding opposition.
Rep. John Nelson, R-12, hoped the committee would adopt a strike-everything amendment for H2200 that would have prevented the NFL from limiting the access local television stations have to the sidelines during Cardinals games at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
Instead, the committee flatly refused to approve the amendment; “no” votes easily outnumbered the “yeses” during the voice vote on the measure.
“We tried for the voice of freedom,” Nelson said after the vote. “We’re still stuck with the NFL.”
In March 2006, league owners voted unanimously to adopt a policy that removed local television affiliates from the sidelines of all NFL games. Called the “NFL Broadcast Cooperation Resolution,” it prohibits stations from being able to shoot game footage from the sidelines. Instead, local competing stations must get their game action scenes from a common network or pool feed.
The policy went into effect in the recently completed 2006-07 football season.
At the league’s recent annual spring meeting in Phoenix, the NFL amended the policy to allow five local television stations per team film sideline footage for the pool feed.
Art Brooks, president of the Arizona Broadcaster’s Association, said the policy limits the ways in which local stations can cover games, as they must all rely on the same footage, and makes the coverage less creative.
NFL: ‘Legislation looking for a problem’
“It’s all about showing off the facility, the surroundings, the flavor of what goes on during and after the game, as local broadcasters do best,” he told the committee.
David Proper, senior media counsel for the NFL, told the committee there was no need for the legislation, as the league’s aim is to work with media outlets, not against them. The recent changes to the sideline policy show the league’s willingness to revise its stance in response to concerns from media partners, he said.
“I think this is legislation looking for a problem,” he said.
Several committee members voiced their displeasure with the bill being heard in the Appropriations Committee at all, because there was no appropriation in the bill.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-8, said shortly before the vote.
Replied Sen. Jim Waring, R-7, “I can’t either.”
But Nelson said it is common legislative procedure for lawmakers to hear bills that don’t include appropriations in the Appropriations Committee, especially this late in the legislative session.
“Everyone in this building knows that Appropriations is the last committee that meets,” he said. “Before you make those kinds of comments, you should make sure you have never done it yourself.”
The final day for House and Senate committees to hear bills was March 30; appropriations committees in both chambers are exempted from the rule in order to allow budget bills to be considered in the later days of the session.