The NFL recently sent a memo to its teams saying they'll be fined $25,000 for posting unapproved video during games, according to a copy of the notice that was obtained by Mashable.
And that's just for a first offense; a second infraction will draw a $50,000 fine. Any thereafter will draw a fine of "up to" $100,000 as well as "loss of rights to post League-Controlled Content (including game footage)."
SEE ALSO:The 'tragic' rise and fall, and rise and fall, of Todd Marinovich takes its latest turnThere's more, too. On a subsequent conference call with public relations, marketing, social media and digital personnel from all 32 teams to go over the new rules, the league deemed video to be "anything that moves," according to a source from one franchise who was on the call.
That includes GIFs from previous games of players celebrating, or even pop culture GIFs such as tangentially relevant quotes from Seinfeld or other TV shows. So, for now at least, even moving images of Harambe are off limits during games (let's pour a little out for him yet again).
That conference call was Tuesday, and the memo states the policy goes into effect on Oct. 12.
Sources from two teams said they feel the new policy is meant to limit the creativity of what teams can do online during games in order to drive attention and eyeballs to official NFL accounts, as opposed to social accounts operated by franchises.
On Twitter, for example, the memo says "video may not be posted from kickoff until 60 minutes after the conclusion of the game" by teams. The exception is "club 're-posts' of League video."
The league also told teams the new guidelines are "not to be distributed externally to any third parties, including, but not limited to, our social media partners," according to an email obtained by Mashable. So: Don't post original video, and don't tell reps from Facebook or Twitter why our game-day strategy has changed.
It all adds up to some curious scenarios. Let's take the following example pointed out by Albert Breer, a reporter for Sports Illustrated's MMQB.com site, who also obtained the memo sent out to all 32 teams.
In the NFL season opener, Darian Stewart of the Broncos was fined $18,231 for an illegal hit on league MVP Cam Newton. Under the new guidelines, had the Broncos or Panthers then used Twitter to post video of the hit that was not a "re-post" of a "League video," the team could be hit with a $25,000 fine -- more than Stewart was fined for delivering the illegal hit in the first place.
Also striking some as curious is that the decree came a month into the current NFL season, thus forcing teams to adjust their strategies with relatively little planning. Could that be related to NFL ratings being some 10 percent down on major networks so far this season?
Brian McCarthy, the NFL's vice president of communications, told Mashablevia email that this had all been "in the works throughout the summer" and was just enacted now after a "regularly scheduled owners digital committee here at the league office last week."
And as for the in-game GIF ban our source mentioned being mentioned on the call this Tuesday? McCarthy told Mashable"we will be clarifying further with clubs what is permissible re GIFs."
"We recognize the importance of social for clubs and look to balance increasing flexibility while building long-term strategic value," McCarthy said via email. "We continue to update and evolve our policies to drive engagement and fan development."
The new guidelines do loosen some restrictions on social media use during the week for teams. But game-days are by far when teams find the most engagement, which then in many cases carries them through the week -- thus explaining much of the frustration with the new rules.
So if your favorite NFL team's social feeds seem a little drier and more -- well, boring -- on game-days the rest of this season, now you know why.
BONUS: Kids lip dub a Marshawn Lynch press conference
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