The NFL generally has a habit of getting what it wants. When it specifically comes to the Super Bowl, the NFL gets everything that it wants, all the time.
Unless it doesn’t.
In a lengthy article regarding the concept of a “Clean Zone” in each Super Bowl host city, ESPN.com explains that the NFL and Phoenix lost in court last week on the question of whether rules against building owners posting ads without the league’s approval violates the Constitution.
The case was sparked by a resolution passed in 2022 creating a “Clean Zone” that encompassed nearly all of the downtown area, starting three weeks before the game and lasting one week after. It banned all “temporary signage . . . that has not been authorized by the NFL and/or [the Host Committee].”
A man who owns a building in downtown Phoenix filed suit last month alleging that the resolution improperly infringed on his rights by limiting his ability to sell advertising it. A judge struck down the ordinance, calling it “unconstitutional.”
The ruling shows that, even though the NFL believes it has the power to take over any city in which the Super Bowl is held, that authority has limitations. And those limitations include not being able to prevent those who own buildings in the “Clean Zone” from posting any advertisements they want.
Whether different courts in different cities would reach the same conclusion remains to be seen. But it’s an important development, and it will surely invite more efforts to blow holes in the NFL’s practice of bowling over anyone who may want to do something other than what the league wants them to do.
