NFL: We Forced Fox To Spike Station Casino Ads

NFL Spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed a short time ago that following my inquiry about the planned Station Casino ads that the Review-Journal reported would appear during the Super Bowl on the local Fox affiliate, the sports league forced KVVU to pull the spots. Station was slated to buy five 30-second ads for a total cost of $360,000.

Responding to my email asking about the decision, McCarthy wrote me:

Correct. We had a conversation before the game with Fox which informed the station it could not air the spots.

I had raised the question of whether such ads would violate the NFL's policy prohibiting Vegas-related advertising during NFL games and especially the Super Bowl. Evidently, it did.

Review-Journal gaming reporter Howard Stutz had said earlier today on Twitter that he didn't think the ads violated the NFL policy because they didn't show gambling or even the exterior of casinos, "just people." The policy states:

Only tourism destinations (e.g., Nevada, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe) are permitted. The prohibition of ads for specific hotels, casinos and other institutions that house gambling will remain in place. Ads may not contain any gambling references or imagery. For example, an ad for Las Vegas tourism with footage of slot machines, dice, cards, or a wide shot of Vegas strip and casinos would not be permitted. However, an ad for Las Vegas tourism with pictures of golf, swimming pools, and performers would be ok.

The content of the ads must comply with the networks’ standards and practices and also meet our standards for being suitable for a mass audience.

But Station did run an ad tonight -- on the post-Super Bowl episode of "Glee." I just posted it on YouTube and it clearly advertises "specific casinos" and sort of makes allusions to gambling. See for yourself:

I continue to be surprised that Station hasn't put the ads up on YouTube or their own site, given that this could become a news story that could garner Station lots of free airings of its commercials on EVERY network as well as plenty of sympathy from Vegas locals.

Still Developing...

THE STRIP IS LIVE ON MONDAY AT 8 P.M. PT (REALLY!)

OK, folks. We've figured out how to do this, so we will be recording our show at 8 p.m. PT on Monday evening and you can watch and listen via UStream by going here: http://ustre.am/tGQx

When you go there, you'll see this:


Our guest is Sierra Boggess, formerly of "Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular" and presently the star of the show's sequel, "Love Never Dies." Miles and I visited her in her dressing room at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End last week.

We'll also talk about Cher, the Super Bowl, our London trip, the Twitter Twerps dramas and more. So join us or wait for the podcast version, probably out on Tuesday. That's your call!

Las Vegas Hilton Fire Revisited, Minus The Gay Stuff

The lesser-known of the two big Vegas fires - the Las Vegas Hilton fire that killed eight people -- turns 30 today, so the Review-Journal's Brian Haynes sat down with the Philip Cline, who is serving life for the crime.

It's a breezy read and a fascinating piece of Vegas history, but I was surprised that Haynes never addresses directly with Cline the big question: Was he having sex with another man in an 8th floor elevator lobby when the fire ignited from a marijuana cigarette? If not, why'd he say so?

That was one of Cline's earlier stories and, even though his story has changed repeatedly over the years, that's the version that the now-retired homicide investigator still clings to, according to Haynes' report.

That incident was incredibly harmful to gay Las Vegans, who felt scapegoated at the time -- especially when Cline's name was also floated as a possible suspect in the MGM Grand fire that killed 85 that prior November. Cline now tells Haynes that he sparked the fire on his break while smoking a pot cigarette mixed with cocaine and dipped in PCP. It ignited the curtains, he claims. He doesn't say whether there was anybody else there, and Haynes evidently doesn't ask.

If there wasn't, why did Cline say that in his initial confession? Did he really think, back in 1981, that claiming to be having a gay tryst in a public place would engender some sort of sympathy from the cops or a jury? Isn't it more likely, in fact, that the jury might have been even harder on him -- giving him life for eight deaths even though the jury foreman tells Haynes he doesn't believe Cline meant to hurt anyone -- because of the gay element to the matter? That sort of prejudice was pretty common back then.

Meanwhile, on an unrelated note, there is this fascinating tidbit in Haynes' piece about Cline's current life:

He works sorting casino playing cards and repackaging them to be sold to tourists.

Did you know this? Those packs of used playing cards they sell at the gift shops are make-work for Nevada prisoners? Why? The resorts don't have people to do this? Or is this a brilliant little way for the resorts to avoid having to pay someone a proper wage?

Do KVVU's Station Ads Violate NFL #SuperBowl Policy?

UPDATE: On Twitter, the R-J's Howard Stutz says he saw one of the Station ads and they don't show gambling or building exteriors. Did Station cut ads specifically to be NFL-compliant?

According to this morning's Review-Journal, Station Casinos is launching a massive marketing campaign that kicks off with this newspaper wrap to your left and five 30-second, $72,000 spots during today's Super Bowl.

What the R-J didn't bother to explore is whether today's $360,000 TV buy violates the NFL's big ban on advertising of Vegas casinos during the Super Bowl nationally or in any local market. To wit, here's their policy, as of Dec. 2009:

We notified our network partners that we will not object to ads airing during our games for any tourism destination, including Las Vegas.

We consider it a reasonable modification of our policy that still protects our interests.

FOR BACKGROUND RE: PERMITTED ADS
Only tourism destinations (e.g., Nevada, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe) are permitted. The prohibition of ads for specific hotels, casinos and other institutions that house gambling will remain in place. Ads may not contain any gambling references or imagery. For example, an ad for Las Vegas tourism with footage of slot machines, dice, cards, or a wide shot of Vegas strip and casinos would not be permitted. However, an ad for Las Vegas tourism with pictures of golf, swimming pools, and performers would be ok.

The content of the ads must comply with the networks’ standards and practices and also meet our standards for being suitable for a mass audience.

That doesn't say anything about advertising during local air time, but R&R Partners veep Rob Dondero told me last week for my AOL News piece on the topic that that, too, is forbidden. In fact, R&R, which manages the $70 million campaign for the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, said they did an end-run around the NFL's national Vegas/casino ban on advertising by buying time on local affiliates. The NFL got pissed, he said, and this year for the first time the local affiliates didn't even call to try to solicit Vegas business. (Local ad sellers frequently are unaware of the NFL's rules, Dondero said.)

This matters because KVVU will enjoy one of the largest Super Bowl viewerships in the nation, owing to the influx of some 300,000 tourists watching on the local feed across the city. Of course, they're here to gamble anyway so perhaps that's a lost cause and not worth the NFL's enforcement muscle. But keep in mind how furious NFL brass were last year when images of the Monte Carlo and the Strip sneaked into this spot:

I've got a call and email out to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy to see if the Station buy breaks the rules. Will update as appropriate, but I suspect he's mighty busy today.

As for me, I don't need Station Casinos to encourage me; I'm off to place my annual Super Bowl bet at Boulder Station, as always. Still really torn; now thinking of going for the Packers and the under. Which is exactly opposite of what I planned on earlier this week. Ugh.

This Kid Is A Hero

This should end the question of whether gays can raise kids as well as straight parents. It won't, but it should. It's 3 very, very worthwhile and astonishing minutes. Here's the context. Now watch it:

The #NFL v #Vegas & More!

Yes, I've been vacating. Sort of. In actuality, our eight-day London sojourn was packed with assignments that I'm busy this weekend fulfilling along with expense forms and other various and sundry things related things.

But it's not as though I've been completely neglecting my Vegas duties. Here's some recent stuff to gnaw at while I concoct a fun blog about the London trip:

* My Las Vegas Weekly column this week examines how Vegas is no longer just where old show-biz talents go to die, it's also a Mecca for formerly prominent 1990s tabloid sensations. OK, so it's not as explosive a piece as last week's Twitter Twerps drama. They can't all be.

* I contributed to Desert Companion's Best Of issue with entries naming the region's best vet (as informed by Petcast co-host and current Knight-Wallace fellow Emily Richmond), best new political activist and best beat reporter.

* With the Super Bowl once again upon us, I revisited the ongoing drama between the NFL and Las Vegas for AOL News. Rob Dondero from R&R Partners seems convinced that sooner or later the team will overrule the NFL's ban on Vegas-related advertising if only because they want our money for stadium billboards and the like.

This brings me to the most pressing question: Who to lay my Super Bowl bet on? I'm inclined to go Pittsburgh and the under, anticipating a low-scoring game. Who's with me?

A Very Good Vegas Media Shuffle

A couple of really fascinating job changes are in the works out there in Vegas medialand, both of which make a ton of sense and promise to improve the overall outlook.

First, Steve Sebelius has left Las Vegas CityLife to be a political columnist for the Review-Journal. This is a good thing because punditry and analysis are what Sebelius does best. It also adds a bona fide liberal voice to the R-J's opinion pages, something that's been missing there since Erin Neff bolted in a post-election huff in 2008.

Being a rigorous editor demanding his reporters do great work was not Steve's best skill. There are numerous examples of cover stories in CityLife in recent years that were poorly sourced, overlooked important elements and provided precious little of the sort of insight for which we turn to weeklies. I often got the impression Sebelius was much too busy pursuing a TV career and working on his own blog and column, and I was never quite clear how the editor of a print publication could also be an "investigative reporter" (as opposed to pundit) for a TV news outfit. Which loyalty is served? If Sebelius had some news to break, it would seem he owed it to his main gig to do it there, not in a competing medium. Would he allow his own staff reporters to break stories elsewhere? You'd think not. But this problem is now resolved; he's a pundit for the R-J and a journalist/analyst for KLAS. Go forth and prosper.

Meanwhile, the wonderfully talented Scott Dickensheets, who gave me my column at the Las Vegas Weekly as editor there, has done something pretty unusual these days: He's leaving Greenspun Media for a gig with the R-J's parent Stephens Media as ... the new editor of Las Vegas CityLife! This is terrific news for the publication, which now will get a truly experienced journalist and gifted writer at its helm and -- God willing -- perhaps a sense of humor, too. Scott's got such a vast and impressive career as a magazine writer and editor; those reporters better get ready to start defending their sourcing and story angles better once he arrives. My sense is two of the most prominent staffers -- Amy Kingsley and Jason Whited -- have raw talent but could use some mentoring from someone like Scott.

I wish I could say I'm disappointed to be losing Scott as the Las Vegas Sun's metro columnist, but I'm not. I'm not really sure why, but I just never got the sense he got into the rhythm of it during his brief tenure. When I think of the great metro columnists in this city -- OK, there's just one, the R-J's John L. Smith -- I think of a mix of great writing and truly original reporting on topics that are often overlooked. I never had the sense of discovery I expected from Scott's columns, and I kept waiting for that to kick in. Maybe he just didn't enjoy it as much as he thought he would.

Anyhow, these are good changes. Everyone gets to do what they're especially good at and, I suspect, that they most enjoy. That's a win-win for them and the community.