DE PERE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The NFL is demanding the De Pere and Lakeshore Cinemas stop showing Packers games.
The Radue family owns both theatres and says 15 to 20 people show up in De Pere for a regular-season game, but they sometimes fill up for playoff games.
For nearly 20 years, the De Pere Cinema has been showing Packers games on its 40-foot screen, free of charge.
“I’d probably make more money if I showed a movie,” said Mike Radue. “This is not a major part of our business. It was more of a community thing.”
Paying a commercial rate for cable, Radue tells FOX he was surprised to receive a letter from the NFL saying he must stop showing the games.
“It’s the last thing I’d want to do is do something that would take revenue away, but our thought was we’re not charging, and we’re paying the commercial rate, they’re getting their revenues, all should be good.”.
The letter lists the conditions the NFL has for out-of-home viewings of its broadcasts. No admission can be charged, the game must be shown on a television commonly used at home, and the establishment must be engaged in the business of showing regular and daily sports programming to its patrons.
Radue tells FOX 11 he’s writing a response letter, asking for clarification.
“I need something more than a letter from someone in a cubicle saying you can’t. Obviously we’re not going to, we’re going to stop now because we’ve been told to stop, but we need a little better explanation as to why.”
FOX 11 asked the NFL for more clarification.
League Spokesperson Brian McCarthy sent a statement saying,
“This is a longstanding NFL policy that prohibits the mass out-of-home viewing of NFL games at commercial establishments beyond bars and restaurants. The policy protects the free over-the-air telecast and the league’s copyright. Establishments such as bars and restaurants are exempt as they are engaged in the business of showing regular and daily sports programming.”
“This is the face of Green Bay,” said Radue of Packers games. “Every bar, every church, anybody who wants to play it should, any business should be able to play it.”
Radue says he’d be willing to pay some sort of license fee if it were a reasonable price. The NFL says there isn’t an option like that available.
