Jerry Jones announced the firing of Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips at Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, Monday, November 8, 2010. (Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT via Getty Images)
2016By Ian Casselberry on

Count Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones among those who doesn’t like the NFL’s new no-fun social media restrictions. According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, Jones made his feelings about the league’s new policy very clear during a meeting with his fellow NFL owners in Houston last week.

Several NFL teams have already demonstrated their disagreement and opposition to the league’s new restrictions on posting videos and GIFs of game highlights on social media while games are still in progress. That displeasure has led to some creative, amusing ways of circumventing the social media policy. More than a week later, the limits are still in place and teams are continuing to thumb their noses at the NFL’s upper management with tongue firmly in cheek. Here are some of the latest examples from Week 7 action:

As amusing as those workarounds from various NFL teams’ social media departments have been, the new social media policy hasn’t exactly been fan-friendly. Nor is it a particularly good way to promote the league’s actions to fans who either might not have access to games on television — on that particular day or in general — or establish a presence on popular outlets like Twitter and Facebook.

During the owners meeting, according to La Canfora, Jones spoke out against the NFL’s social media policy, asserting that highlights were content generated by the league’s individual teams and thus subject to whatever those teams prefer to do with them. Furthermore, the Cowboys owner pointed out the hypocrisy of the league being able to post such video content on its social media feeds, while prohibiting individual teams from sharing the same footage when available.

Actually, the league might have its own issues with properly maintaining its social media feed, judging from this tweet posted during the end of Sunday night’s Seahawks-Cardinals stalemate:

Even if fans staying up to watch that game, which eventually ended in a 6-6 overtime tie, expressed the same sentiments, a bit more should be expected from the league’s official social media voice. Geez, post a highlight of the missed field goals by the Seahawks and Cardinals, at least.

Standing in opposition to Jones was Jonathan Kraft, the New England Patriots team president who is the co-chair of the NFL’s digital media committee. Apparently, Kraft took exception with Jones’ protests — perhaps viewing them as direct attacks, given Kraft’s position — and became so upset that he left the meeting at one point. The argument between Jones and Kraft added some spice to what was a rather bland meeting overall.

Jones is seemingly in a unique position among NFL owners, able to take on the establishment without fear of reprisal. His team and stadium, in addition to his longtime standing, are simply too important to the league. La Canfora’s sources told him that several other NFL owners agreed with Jones, but the Cowboys owner was the one who actually voiced his displeasure. However, Jones and his fellow dissenters might be in the minority, as the prevailing sentiment seems to be that the league should clamp down while it figures how to properly utilize (i.e., make money) from this content. Will the squeaky wheel end up getting the grease here?

[CBS Sports]

About Ian Casselberry

Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.

View all posts by Ian Casselberry

Comments are closed.