Pat McAfee has big beef with NFL

Pat McAfee has seemingly declared war against the NFL.

During Monday’s episode of “The Pat McAfee Show,” McAfee revealed that the NFL has informed his producers that they are no longer allowed to use league or team logos on any of their graphics. McAfee then showed a graphic previewing Monday night’s game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns in which he drew sketches of players and no team logos were used. McAfee repeatedly referred to the NFL as the “American professional football league.”

“We can still (show highlights) because we paid not one, not two, not three — over $4 million to be able to do as such,” McAfee said. “But we got word this morning that we are not allowed to use any logos on any graphics.”

McAfee then seemingly issued a threat to the NFL about what his show’s coverage of the league might look like going forward.

“It’s been great doing business with you. I’m happy we have covered your league in the way that we have for the last few years. I’m appreciative of the league and everything that it has done,” McAfee said. “I don’t really think we have touched on many subjects that we could have dabbled into, and I think we’ll do that this offseason. You know, things that I know a lot about and that my friends know a lot about, like insurance and CTE and concussions and everything like that. I think we can find some people to chat about and to learn about what the NFL should be held accountable for and shouldn’t be held accountable for.”

You can hear more of McAfee’s comments below. Beware that the clip contains some cursing.

From a legal standpoint, the NFL is almost certainly within its rights to instruct “The Pat McAfee Show” to stop using logos. It is possible that McAfee’s show only purchased the rights to show highlights but not to show logos/trademarks, which would be a separate fee. Maybe the show was able to get away with showing logos for a bit until someone with the legal office sent a letter about the matter.

The tricky thing with trademark law is that in order to maintain trademark protection, one must enforce their trademark, which could explain why the NFL reached out to the show.

The big question is how far the NFL is willing to go to enforce the rules. McAfee has a massive loyal following and a strong relationship with a number of prominent NFL figures. He also recently landed a huge gig with ESPN. McAfee seems to think it would be in the NFL’s best interest to stay on his good side. Time will tell if league executives view it the same way.