Jan. 15, 2003

NFL, Las Vegas at odds over TV ads for Super Bowl

By Steve Friess
Special for USA TODAY

LAS VEGAS -- Mayor Oscar Goodman unleashed a tirade against the NFL on Tuesday and threatened to sue it for refusing to allow advertisements promoting the tourist destination during the Super Bowl.

NFL officials rejected the 30-second spot on grounds that Las Vegas is too closely linked to sports betting. But the flamboyant Goodman accused the NFL of corruption and hypocrisy.

"The NFL doesn't have clean hands here. They have the most dysfunctional group of athletes there are, their refs can't make a right call and their organization is upside down, but they're offended by us?" Goodman growled. "They rejected this on a blanket basis without having seen them. It's outrageous. It would be different if the ads had girls in brassieres mud-wrestling, but these are legitimate ads."

Indeed, the ad that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority wanted to spend $ 2.1 million to show didn't reference gambling at all. In it, a provocatively dressed woman hops into a limo en route to the airport and flirts with her driver. When she arrives at the airport, she's changed into a business suit, implying she's about to return to her real life.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the content of that ad was not the issue. The league has a policy that prohibits any advertising that could associate the sport with gambling, "and Las Vegas is synonymous to the public with sports betting.

"Public perception of the integrity of our game is critical, and this could negatively impact that perception," McCarthy said. "Las Vegas is one area where the very foundation of its success has been gambling."

More than $ 2 billion is spent each year in betting on sports in Nevada, the only state where it is legal.

Goodman, an attorney who once represented some of Las Vegas' most notorious organized crime figures, ordered the tourism bureau's attorney to plan a lawsuit alleging the NFL is in violation of free speech, restraint of trade and antitrust laws.

McCarthy said the league does not comment on potential litigation.

The Super Bowl ad was to kick off a 20-month, $ 60 million marketing campaign for the nation's most popular tourist destination, including today's launch of its new Web site, vegasfreedom.com.

NFL officials suggest that the controversy is a deliberate part of that marketing effort. "We wrote ABC months ago that we don't accept any advertising that even smacks of gambling," said Dennis Lewin, NFL senior vice president. "There's nothing new, except they are getting a lot of ink, which is what they want."

###

Go to list of USA Today stories