Can your church host a Super Bowl fellowship or special event?  Some churches use the NFL's championship game as an opportunity to fellowship and watch the game and many sponsor evangelistic outreach events. For the last two years, the NFL has taken a hard stance against showing the game outside the traditional family living room environment.  Lawyers for the NFL even sent legal demand letters to churches threatening to take legal action if the church events were not cancelled.  While the NFL based it's demands on its copyright ownership of the game's broadcast, many were outraged by the apparent hypocrisy of allowing sports bars to broadcast the event and sponsor parties without any objection whatsoever.  The good news is, the NFL has responded favorably and has adopted new guidelines that will allow church sponsored events to show the championship game.

Looking forward to the 2009 Super Bowl, this informative video by Attorney David Gibbs III outlines the new legal requirements for hosting a church-sponsored Super Bowl fellowship.