Dick Cass, president of the National Football League (NFL)’s Baltimore Ravens, has said the League should allow teams to sell more liquor advertising.
The NFL currently allows teams to sell advertising space to distillers in the upper level of stadiums and in publications such as game programmes. Teams are forbidden however to sell liquor sponsorships involving a team logo, on in-stadium video displays or television advertisements. Teams also cannot sell the right to use their logo on state lottery tickets.
“It’s more acceptable now,” Cass told Bloomberg. “It’s not a desperate need for money, that’s not what is driving it. We would be pleased to have our marks and logos associated with the Maryland state lottery. We serve liquor at the stadium, so I don’t know why we can’t advertise that. I think it makes sense to permit some sort of advertising arrangement with liquor.”
The NFL has felt the effect of economic recession, cutting around 15 per cent of League staff and freezing executive salaries for the remainder of 2009. Cass said the advertising should be allowed because the public has grown more tolerant and it would bring in much-needed additional revenue.
NFL owners are likely discuss the topic of liquor and lottery advertising at their spring meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 18-20. A change in League policy requires approval from 24 of the 32 owners.
