News Photographer Magazine: New NFL Vest Rule (With Sponsor Logos) Have Some Seeing Red. The National Football League has passed a new rule for the upcoming season that requires photographers at NFL games to wear red vests with Canon and Reebok logos on them, and the news is not being very well received by some editors and photography directors as word spreads through the journalism community.
The NFL and other major sports leagues became popular in large part because traditional media organizations built them up. Now that the power is in the hands of the leagues, they’re throwing it around in increasingly brazen ways.
I don’t blame the league for trying this kind of stunt. What do you expect from a cartel, so used to having its own way on everything?
But if a single newspaper or other media organization accedes to the NFL’s ridiculous demand, it should be condemned by everyone who gives even the slightest hoot about honorable journalism.