No More Packer Games at the Palladium

[Tom Snyder]

From JS Online:

NFL cracks down on theater broadcasts
By Don Walker
Saturday, Jan 5 2008, 12:40 PM

The National Football League has sent cease-and-desist letters to the Potawatomi Bingo and Casino and the Marcus Corp., owners and operators of the AT&T Palladium in Waukesha, telling them they are violating copyright law by showing Green Bay Packers games on the big screen.

Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesman, said in an e-mail that the league recently became aware that the two businesses were showing Packers games. "We let them know they are violating copyright law and longstanding NFL policies that prohibit mass out-of-town viewing of NFL games," he said.

The two locales have proven to be popular places for Packers fans to gather and watch games. Both the Palladium and the Northern Lights Theater, located at the casino, were gearing up for the Packers' playoff game next Saturday.  

Ryan Amundson, a spokesman for the Potawatomi Bingo and Casino, acknowledged that the league had sent the Potawatomis a letter.

"It was an oversight on our part," Amundson said. "We were not aware of the policy."

Larry Widen, who runs the Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse in Wauwatosa, said Saturday that he had received no notification from the NFL that he couldn't put the game on in his theater next Saturday. "We have been showing the games for years," he said. "We are not in violation because we are a licensed Class B tavern."

McCarthy said the league was simply following copyright law and have "done so consistently over many years with regard to schools, museums, hotels, theatres, arenas and other such venues. We also enforce it with our own clubs who sometimes ask about showing away games on their Jumbotrons in-stadium."