|
Limit Hold ‘Em: Tournaments Not
Allowing Players To Wear Logos |
Gaining sponsorships and wearing corporate logos on TV “is perhaps the hottest
issue among professional poker players,” according to Steve Rosenbloom of ESPN.com.
The Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour (WPT) and FSN’s “Poker Superstars Invitational”
do not allow any logos to be shown on their telecasts. Players can wear logos
at tables on ESPN’s World Series of Poker events and NBC’s National Heads-Up Championship,
but they “cannot have the dot-com on them.” The Professional Poker Tour, created
by the WPT, allows logos, but “no broadcast deal has been announced for those
events.” WPT Founder & CEO Steve Lipscomb said, “The broadcast agreement that
we have is very specific about what kind of sponsorship can or cannot be involved
with the show. If we allowed it, we would be in breach of our agreement with the
Travel Channel. What most players want to put on is an online poker room, which
we’re specifically prohibited from putting on the Travel Channel’s air.” But poker
player Howard Lederer said, “I’m playing in a [WPT] event where I cannot wear
logos, and on top of that, I’m going to be paying $25,000 to enter and I will
be charged $500 to play. ... The players are paying for the dealers essentially,
the players are paying a fee to the house, and we’re not allowed to wear logos.”
Player Erick Lindgren said, “If people are wondering why some of the good players
aren’t in the [FSN] ‘Poker Superstars’ ... it’s because they wouldn’t allow logos
of any sort. We’re not talking just online companies. We as a group decided to
boycott it” (
ESPN.com,
4/13).
