NFL Refuses Las Vegas Ad

[StevieD]

(01-13) 17:30 PST LAS VEGAS (AP) --

The National Football League has refused to accept a Super Bowl commercial from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority .

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Monday that the commercial was rejected last month after league officials reviewed it, though he did not specify why the league turned down the ad.

"The league office decided that the commercial was not in our best interest," McCarthy said. "The NFL has a long-standing policy that prohibits the acceptance of any message that makes reference to or mention of sports betting."

The Super Bowl, television's most-watched event, will air Jan. 26 on ABC.

McCarthy said the NFL has a contract with ABC that gives the league the right to reject any advertisement related to sports betting.

People familiar with the commercial -- a montage of images from around the city -- say there is no reference to gambling and don't understand why it was rejected.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman could not immediately be reached for comment. The convention and visitors authority said it would issue a statement Tuesday.

The New York Daily News reported Monday that ABC has sold 90 percent of its 61 30-second spots. Each spot sold for the same record $2.1 million fee collected in 2000.

"We are right where we should be at this time, with only a few spots left," said Ed Erhardt, president for customer marketing at ABC Sports and sibling ESPN. "We expect strong demand for the remaining spots and are talking to a few advertisers right now."

Other companies fielding Super Bowl ads include Anheuser-Busch, FedEx, Visa, General Motors, AT&T Wireless, Yahoo!, Gatorade, Sony and Levis Strauss.

 

[StevieD]

Like I would watch these over-paid freaks of nature if I didn't have a dime on the outcome.

 

[Valuist]

Amazing. And I thought the NCAA was the biggest group of hypocrites in sports. I guess they have company.

 

[Blazer]

Suprize?

Suprize?

Why are you suprized? Its a bad PR move to have betting promote any sport league that it produces lines for. I love to bet, but I am in the minority of people in this world. You are kidding yourself it you think any LV ad doesnt inhertantly advertise gambling. It doesn't have to show a poker game or a ticket. LV is gambling. I support LV and I believe it belongs in our society, but it's better if the payoffs to the NFL and back to Las Vegas are kept under the table.

 

[Blitz]

Re: NFL Refuses Las Vegas Ad

"The league office decided that the commercial was not in our best interest," McCarthy said. "The NFL has a long-standing policy that prohibits the acceptance of any message that makes reference to or mention of sports betting."

I guess Al Michaels didn't get that memo!

 

[Senor Capper]

Read the same thing

Read the same thing

NFL penalizes Las Vegas
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Copyright ? Las Vegas Review-Journal

NFL penalizes Las Vegas, rejects Super Bowl ad

Gaming cited as reason for league decision



"For Tagliabue to suggest (Las Vegas' ads) are bad for football's image is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. He'd better get his own house in order before he starts talking about integrity."
OSCAR GOODMAN
LAS VEGAS MAYOR





The National Football League has sacked Las Vegas' plans to gain national exposure during this year's Super Bowl broadcast.

Convention authority spokesman Rob Powers said the organization last year approached the league about the possibility of purchasing national time slots to air its new "Vegas Stories" ads during the Jan. 26 championship football game, which will be broadcast on the ABC television network.

But the NFL rebuffed the authority's offer in mid-December because it claims it does not want its signature event to be associated with a gaming-themed destination, Powers said.

Oscar Goodman, Las Vegas mayor and convention authority board member, on Monday blasted the NFL's decision to bar Las Vegas ads.

Although he said his background as a defense attorney makes him reluctant to cite individual names, Goodman said the NFL's image is already tainted by former and current players who have been accused of crimes that range from murder and child molestation to burglary and sexual assault.

"As far as I'm concerned, (NFL Commissioner Paul) Tagliabue has the most deviant athletes in professional sports," Goodman said.

In recent years, NFL players such as onetime Carolina Panthers cornerback Rae Carruth, current Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, and former Green Bay Packers tight end Mark Chmura have been the subject of high-profile court trials.

Carruth is serving up to 24 years in prison stemming from his role in the November 1999 shooting of his then-pregnant girlfriend; Lewis was acquitted of double-murder charges in June 2000; and Chmura was acquitted last February on charges he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl who once baby-sat his children.

"For Tagliabue to suggest (Las Vegas' ads) are bad for football's image is a case of the pot calling the kettle black," Goodman said. "He'd better get his own house in order before he starts talking about integrity."

Goodman also pointed out what he called the league's hypocrisy by citing a new beer ad that depicts two scantily clad women wrestling in a fountain and puddle of mud; the ad has routinely aired on recent NFL telecasts.

"Instead of airing our tasteful ads, the NFL chooses to allow ads with girls in their brassieres and panties mud wrestling" Goodman said as he questioned the league's decision making.

Powers also criticized the league's stance, adding newspapers in almost every major city in the United States publish betting lines on NFL games without repercussions from the league.

"We're disappointed and feel the NFL's position is indefensible," Powers said. "Some form of legalized gaming exists in 48 (actually 47) of the 50 states, and Las Vegas is so much more than just gaming. But for some reason, the NFL feels Las Vegas doesn't reflect well with its image."

Efforts to reach the NFL league office were unsuccessful late Monday.

Although ABC is directly selling ads for the Super Bowl, Goodman said he believes the NFL maintains the right to censure ads it deems inappropriate. He learned of the league's anti-Las Vegas ruling late last week, he said.

The NFL's denial prevents Las Vegas from gaining national exposure during what is routinely one of television's most popular events.

According to the NFL's Web site, the 10 most-watched shows in television history were Super Bowl broadcasts. Last year's contest between the New England Patriots and St. Louis Rams was the fifth-most watched program in television history when an estimated 131.7 million Americans tuned in for all or part of the Feb. 3 game.

Advertisers typically pay plenty to reach so many viewers. Monday's New York Daily News said ABC has already sold about 90 percent of its available 30-second spots for this month's game, with each spot reportedly fetching $2.1 million from advertisers such as Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi and Visa.

Last year, Fox earned about $1.9 million per Super Bowl spot, the Daily News reported.

The authority has previously aired advertisements during Super Bowl broadcasts in selected markets by purchasing slots directly from local affiliates of the network broadcasting the game, Powers said; this was the authority's first attempt to purchase national ad slots during a Super Bowl broadcast.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and ad agency R & R Partners plan to debut today a new 18-month marketing campaign dubbed "Vegas Stories." The new ads, which feature interviews with hundreds of local visitors who discuss their personal experiences in the city, were directed by Brian Buckley, who oversaw ESPN's popular "This is Sportscenter" campaign.

 

[Terryray]

Las Vegas risks squeaky clean image by associating with seedy NFL

Las Vegas risks squeaky clean image by associating with seedy NFL

Sunday, January 19, 2003
Copyright ? Las Vegas Review-Journal


COLUMN: John L. Smith

Las Vegas risks squeaky clean image by associating with seedy NFL







The National Football League doesn't want to associate with Las Vegas. We're bad for their image.

In a move that reverberated nationally, the league rejected a request by the Las Vegas convention officials to place a commercial for the city during the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast. The reasoning: The NFL doesn't want to be tainted by the gambling mecca.

Forget that the spot didn't mention gambling. Never mind that Mayor Oscar Goodman is threatening a lawsuit and has had a field day attacking the league's horse-choking hypocrisy.

Try to be more understanding of the NFL. It's sensitive about its image, and with good reason.

After all, its historical ties to illegal bookmakers, racketeers and nefarious characters are just as shadowy as those who built Las Vegas.

The best book on the NFL's connection to the mob and the American gambling scene was Dan Moldea's groundbreaking "Interference." Moldea tore apart the league's papier-mache image and illustrated that, without gamblers, it would have remained on the sandlots.

Take Tim Mara, for instance. He was a major New York bookmaker who in 1925 purchased the New York Giants. Mara was connected to a bookmaking organization later known as the Genovese crime family.

And there's Charles Bidwell. He was a bootlegger and racetrack owner who bought the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals) in 1933. Among Bidwell's business associates was Scarface Al Capone, who didn't get that scar on the gridiron.

Art Rooney, who was tight with major bookmakers, in 1940 purchased the Pittsburgh Pirates (now the Steelers). Rooney's high-rolling gambling and association with underworld types was ignored by the league he helped create.

There's Bert Bell, the horse junkie and Capone pal who purchased the Frankford Yellow Jackets and later the Philadelphia Eagles. Of course, a more notorious gambling Eagles owner was Leonard Tose, whose compulsion ruined his life and, once again, bent the league's cardboard facade.

Dick Richards, who bought the Portsmouth Spartans (now the Detroit Lions) didn't hide his bets on his own team with underworld bookmakers. Give him credit for candor, a commodity sorely lacking these days.

One of my favorite stories is the tale of Mickey McBride, who bought the Cleveland Browns at a time he was partners with Chicago racket boss James Reagan in the Continental Racing Wire -- the Capone mob's link to nationwide horse betting.

Although many know that Estes Kefauver's early-1950s U.S. Senate rackets committee focused on organized crime's connection to the American gambling scene, few may remember that Bidwell and McBride were among the notorious characters mentioned with the likes of Frank Costello and Meyer Lansky.

For big-league hypocrisy, you can't beat the NFL's refusal to lift even a scolding finger to mobbed-up gambler Carroll Rosenbloom, who owned the Baltimore Colts and later the Los Angeles Rams. Rosenbloom was pals with Lansky bagman Lou Chesler and Genovese bookmaker Gil Beckley. Evidence suggests Rosenbloom participated in tainted games and associated with Mafia bookmakers all his life.

More recently, San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo was tied to a felonious gambling licensing deal linked to then-Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards. Although uncharged, DeBartolo is no longer officially associated with the team. Not even the NFL could ignore such a public link to scandal.

It's not merely that professional football has historical ties to illegal bookmakers. Fact is, the league was created in part by bookmakers and gamblers to promote betting.

Sports betting wasn't an unfortunate coincidence.

It was an intended byproduct.

Given its refusal to acknowledge its own shadowy history, the NFL would have a hard time getting a key employee casino license in modern-day Las Vegas.

The league has thrived for decades in a state of denial thanks largely to a willing press, but its gambling stance remains as phony as the smiles at a Boardwalk beauty pageant.

The real question is: Why would Las Vegas want to associate with such a historically unsavory crowd?


John L. Smith's column appears Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.