NFL Network’s “Nuditygate” signals time for locker room access policy changes
In the wake of Sunday’s “Nuditygate” (I made that up, but on the heels of Spygate and Deflategate it seems appropriate) on the NFL Network…
In the wake of Sunday’s “Nuditygate” (I made that up, but on the heels of Spygate and Deflategate it seems appropriate) on the NFL Network, Martin Rogers of USA Today authored a completely useless piece suggesting, essentially, that having one’s rear end shown on national television is a price American pro athletes have to pay for their careers.
Whitworth’s plea to overhaul the league’s media policy thanks to a poorly aimed locker room camera, is a bigger load of junk than, well, you got the picture.
Rogers is reacting to Cincinnati Bengals lineman Andrew Whitworth who complained about the NFL’s open locker room policy after he was shown in the buff on the NFL’s own house organ, the NFL Network. Whitworth took to Twitter to voice his displeasure. The network did apologize after the fact.
This is not the first time we have had this conversation. A Fox Sports broadcast made basically the same mistake in 2008 in a Vikings locker room.
Rogers does suggest an alternative to this policy would be the creation of a mixed zone, a la the English Premier League, but quickly notes that this idea “doesn’t work.”
With few exceptions, the EPL and its clubs do a miserable job of ensuring players or even coaches provide much in the way of access to the media, and by extension the public.
As a veteran of two Olympic Games where mixed zones are the norm, I could not disagree more vehemently. Mixed zones work by allowing athletes to interact with media as they exit the field of play, usually with a physical barrier between them. Sure it can be crowded for star athletes, but it generally works. Yes it requires more logistics and more staffing but why isn’t this done already?
Why is locker room access necessary, beyond the “we have always done it” excuse? I get athlete reaction to specific plays is important and part of a journalist’s job, but there are better ways to obtain those reactions than a locker room.
While perhaps lacking the intimacy of a locker room, formal post-event press conferences are effective ways to reach lots of media at once, while helping an athlete or coach avoid answering the same question multiple times. Plus they can be a revenue generator as sponsors pay for the right to have their logo visible during the press conference.
Broadcast networks regularly employ sideline reporters to get quick reaction from athletes and coaches, even if these reactions provide little depth.
Media aren’t permitted in golf clubhouses, or Wimbledon’s locker room, or Olympic athletes areas, or... Only U.S. professional sports teams permit locker room access to reporters (unless they are female and then they might be denied). It is time for this policy to change.