Yesterday after the Steelers upset the Chiefs in an AFC playoff game, Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown decided to go on Facebook Live from the locker room to celebrate with his fans. And the fans loved it – he went live for 17 minutes and had almost 900,000 views within just a few hours, before the video was deleted.
A player using technology to celebrate directly with his fans in real-time. Great, right? Not so much.
A few things. First, the NFL’s social media policy prohibits players from using any form of social media starting 90 minutes before the game starts, up until after the post-game press conference end. While no fine has been announced yet, ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted the a league official said Brown “could be fined” for the video stream.
Secondly, the NFL’s broadcast partners are contractually the only ones allowed to shoot video in the locker room after a game – teams and even the league itself can’t even use that footage until 24 hours after the game ends.
