Bob CollinsIf there are player protests during the Super Bowl in Minneapolis next month, NBC says it won’t cover them up to keep advertisers happy.
“The Super Bowl is a live event … and when you’re covering a live event, you’re covering what’s happening. So if there are players that choose to kneel, they will be shown live,” Super Bowl LII executive producer Fred Gaudelli said at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, as reported by AdFreak.
During the regular season, networks don’t usually show players kneeling live because they don’t broadcast the National Anthem; that’s prime commercial time.
In the Super Bowl, however, the singing of the National Anthem is a big deal. On Monday, Pink was announced as this year’s anthem singer.
Showing kneeling players could cost NBC. Linda Yaccarino, chair of advertising sales and client partnerships for NBCUniversal, said in November that advertisers have threatened to pull commercials if NBC gives any attention to players who are taking a knee for racial equity.
The NBC officials don’t seem too concerned, at least not as concerned as they are about something else: our weather.
“The biggest challenge would be if you got socked with a major snowstorm on Super Bowl Sunday that would make it difficult for people to get to the game.”
But Gaudelli said Midwesterners are “unfazed” by snowy weather, “so I don’t really think the cold weather is going to be that much of a factor.”
Unfazed. Remember that during your morning commute tomorrow.
