Monday, July 16, 2007

NFL to Broadcasters: Your 45 Seconds are Up!


So pro football now has a 45-second rule. As my print colleague Adam Thompson writes, media Web sites reporting on NFL players and coaches are now limited to 45 seconds per day of audio and video shot on NFL property. That includes the team facilities where reporters spend much of the six days between games watching coaches hold forth, interviewing players and reporting on the doings of the practice fields.

That's not 45 seconds per subject -- it's total. Interview a quarterback, two running backs, a wide receiver and throw in the coach's comments and you've got about nine seconds for each of them. After 24 hours the audio and video have to come down. And segments have to link back to NFL.com and team sites.