Contact:    David Goodfriend, Chairman                      [email protected]                     (202) 549-5612 WASHINGTON, D.C., December 17, 2015 – Today, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reintroduced the Furthering Access and Networks for Sports (“FANS”) Act.  Sports Fans Coalition issued the following statement: Sports Fans Coalition thanks Senators Blumenthal and McCain for reintroducing the FANS Act and showing once again that they stand up for American sports fans and all the taxpayers around the country who help pay for new sports stadiums. The FANS Act gives professional sports leagues a choice:  if you want federal law to continue protecting you from criminal and civil antitrust liability, then require your media partners to keep the games on TV during contract disputes between broadcasters and pay-TV providers.  If you don’t want to take on that obligation, you forfeit your antitrust exemption. The FANS Act also helps baseball fans who are unable to access MLB games on broadcast or pay-TV by requiring games to be made available online to such households. Continue reading

By Alex B Over the last month the NFL showed how schizophrenic it could be in building its public brand. As is now custom, fans saw all the pink to raise awareness and money for breast cancer. Then, in the same month, fans saw the NFL promptly fine several players (Cameron Heyward, DeAngello Williams) for wearing small tributes to honor a father and a mother who died from the very disease. The claim is that these tributes conflicted with the NFL’s uniform policy.  So what are these terrible offenses?  Writing words of tribute on eyeblack and in the case of, a now disputed fine for Antonio Brown, wearing a pink mouth guard. When the NFL struggles to find positive stories to build its brand – this dichotomy just seems odd. Added to that, the NFL seems to have no trouble with alterations on uniforms that pay tribute to NFL owners or some other team anniversary celebration.  Continue reading

Fans of Deadspin and SBNation, picture this:  you are at a work conference, a grocery store or otherwise occupied on a Sunday, just trying to check out the highlights (or lowlights) from the sports action over the weekend. You go to your Twitter or Facebook account to check out some game scores and highlights.  To your surprise, the only thing you can find are videos sanctioned by the NFL and promoted by an official NFL account. Does that sound like our viral video era in 2015?  Continue reading

Sports Fans Coalition cheers Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the Ranking Minority Member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, for his remarks about the NFL at today's Duke Law Forum.  Rep. Pallone said that the NFL's antitrust exemption might have "become a multi-billion dollar handout to a special interest" and that the American people "should also understand whether the league is operating as a monopoly."  Sports Fans Coalition issued the following statement: Continue reading

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/1/tim-winer-daivd-good-friend-web-based-content-offe/ TV with a choiceWeb-based content is ushering in affordable a la carte programming Illustration on lower-cost tailored television choices by Alexander Hunter/The Washington TimesIllustration on lower-cost tailored television choices by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times more >By Tim Winter and David Goodfriend – - Wednesday, July 1, 2015Question: What do rabid football fans, working moms and Clifford the Big Red Dog viewers have in common? Continue reading

Sports fans from around the United States are cheering for Arizona’s senator. Forget about political parties, gridlock and partisanship in Washington, D.C. Every fan has a champion in Sen. John McCain, who is willing to take on the biggest, most powerful professional sports leagues and help our American pastimes better reflect our values of fair play and community. Continue reading

For fans concerned about the steady migration of sports events from free, over-the-air broadcast TV to cable/satellite and other video subscription services, the recent news of the British Open coming back to broadcast TV was good news. ESPN and its parent company, Disney, which held rights to the tournament for decades, lost a bid to NBC Sports Group, which in turn has committed to bring back the tournament to broadcast TV starting in 2017. While most Americans subscribe to cable or satellite TV, many low-income households and so-called “cord cutters” who do not get pay-TV opt for free, over-the-air broadcast TV, especially in HD. While golf might not be the top spectator sport for most Americans, the British Open’s return to broadcast could be a preview of greater accessibility to come. And who knows… maybe the next Tiger Woods will be inspired to attempt that approach to the 18th green with a 9-iron.

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 5, 2015 – Today, Sports Fans Coalition Chairman David Goodfriend named SackNFLTaxBreaks.org co-founder Ryan Rudominer — a lifelong sports fan and veteran communications strategist in our nation’s capital—as Chairman of the Sports Fan Coalition’s Mid-Atlantic region. Rudominer comes to Sports Fans fresh off having helped sack the National Football League’s nonprofit tax-exempt status, a special exception in the tax code carved out by Congress in the 1960s. SackNFLTaxBreaks.org was launched on the eve of Super Bowl XLVIII by Rudominer and co-founder Lynda Woolard, a New Orleans Saints fan whose Change.org petition calling on Congress to “Revoke the Tax-Exempt Status of the NFL” collected nearly half a million signatures. “When Ryan helped to take down the NFL’s longstanding tax exempt status, he became a hero to American sports fans and proved he was the right guy to take a new leadership role with Sports Fans Coalition,” said David Goodfriend, Chairman of the Sports Fan Coalition. “For sports fans of the mid-Atlantic region and beyond, Ryan will be a great champion.” “Our victory in pressuring the NFL to give up its nonprofit tax-exempt status is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ending taxpayer giveaways that benefit the most profitable sports leagues on the planet,” said Rudominer. “Together we kicked off a movement of nearly half a million sports fans from states and congressional districts across the country – one that cuts across party labels, socio-economic status, religion, gender, race, and ethnicity. Today I am truly honored to join Sports Fans Coalition in this exciting new capacity and look forward to achieving continued hard-earned victories on behalf of fellow sports fans everywhere.” A Wisconsin native and proud Green Bay Packers fan and shareholder, Rudominer lives and works in our nation’s capital where he is a principal at R2 Strategic Consulting, a strategic communications, advocacy and media relations firm. About Sports Fans Coalition: The nation’s largest sports fan advocacy group in the public policy arena, founded by Clinton and Bush White House staffers in 2009 and based in Washington, D.C., Sports Fans Coalition advocated for an end to the Federal Communications Commission’s “Sports Blackout Rule,” culminating in a unanimous Commission vote in 2014 to eliminate the rule and the NFL’s announcement in 2015 that it would suspend its own local blackout policy.

Charter Communications announced today that beginning next Tuesday, June 9th, its subscribers in Los Angeles will be able to view Dodgers games on SportsNet LA. For over a year, while Comcast tried to buy Time Warner Cable (the parent of SportsNet LA), Sports Fans Coalition opposed the deal, pointing to the fact that only Time Warner Cable subscribers could view Dodgers games in their home market. Comcast eventually gave up its bid for Time Warner Cable amidst overwhelming opposition to the deal. Today’s announcement vindicates Sports Fans Coalition’s staunch advocacy on behalf of L.A. Dodgers fans. Charter has announced its intent to buy Time Warner Cable but, unlike Comcast, seems to understand the importance of listening to sports fans and making the games more available. That’s good. Charter should be cheered by fans for getting this issue right. We hope it means even more availability of Dodgers games in the future.

Sports Fans Coalition MVP winners and all-around champions, Sens. McCain and Blumenthal, have pushed back on NFL teams’ misuse of taxpayer funds. The Senate today adopted an amendment offered by Sen. McCain, whose floor statement follows: Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today delivered the following statement on the Senate floor on the amendment he co-sponsored with Senators Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), which would stop the practice of the Department of Defense paying professional sports teams and leagues such as the NFL to honor American soldiers at sporting events and call on them to donate profits from these military tributes to charitable organizations that support members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and their families. The text of the amendment is attached. Continue reading