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NFL Sacks Local Cinema from Showing Super Bowl

League calls time out on 'free admission' play

By D. O. Volente
ConsumerAffairs.com

February 1, 2008

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The National Football League has issued Chunky's Cinema Pub, a Nashua, Mass., movie theatre chain, with a cease and desist letter that will prevent over 2,000 fans from watching Super Bowl XLII on its big screens despite free admission.

The league explains through its letter sent Jan. 31, that the game cannot be shown on a television set any larger than what is typically found in a viewer's home.

"The NFL is consistent in prohibiting out-of-home viewings of its games unless no admission is charged and the game is shown on a television of the type commonly used at home," said the letter from Rachel Margolies, assistant counsel to the NFL.

The NFL's action forced customers in the cinema's three locations, Nashua, Pelham and Haverhill, MA, to scramble to make new plans for the Feb. 3 contest. The chain had planned to show the game live for with no admission or cover charge, but obviously, sought to profit from the pours at the bar.

"I am most disappointed for our customers that were looking forward to a unique viewing experience free of charge," said Kyle Nagle, owner of Chunky's Cinema Pub. "We did our very best to understand the situation and work with the NFL but it simply refused to provide any additional information.

"The Super Bowl is a huge opportunity for our business, but at the end of the day the NFL ended up alienating some of its most die-hard fans. That's the part we're still trying to come to grips with," he added ruefully.

But the NFL was not hearing any of it.

"If you choose to continue with your planned viewing of the Super Bowl, we will be required to take all necesary measures to protect our valuable intellectual property rights, including asserting claims of willful copyright infringement," Ms. Margolies warned.

This is not the first instance of the National Football League cracking down on small entertainment-based operators that seek to parlay profits from passes on the field.

Last year, the NFL forced the Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis, IN, from hosting its "Super Bowl Bash."

The league nixed the church's plan to use a wall projector to show the Colts-Bears Super Bowl game, saying it would violate copyright laws.

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