Twitter Likely To Play More Prominent Role In NFL TV Broadcasts This Season

Leading media execs “know there's more of a consumer push this year to incorporate social media” into live NFL TV broadcasts, according to Tom Hoffarth of the L.A. DAILY NEWS. Fox Sports Media Group Chair David Hill said, "We may have paid lip service to it in the past, but this season, we're really getting into it." NBC "SNF" Producer Fred Gaudelli: "It's part of the culture now, but like everything else, it's about presentation, the how-and-when to use it." ESPN "MNF" Senior Coordinating Producer Jay Rothman: "There is value to it. ... We'd be foolish to turn our heads to it, but you don't want it to take over a telecast." Fox Sports Media Group co-President & co-COO Eric Shanks: "We're seeing another bubble atmosphere around social media, and trying to figure out what to do with these buzzwords.” He added, “We are looking at how to instantaneously come up with topics for hashtags during a broadcast to drive a particular conversation, and if it starts trending, it raises the awareness of television and makes people realize there's a game they'll want to watch, or go to the website to read a story, which is the core part of the business" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 9/2).

BAN THE BIRD: In Phoenix, Bob Young writes NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “should consider suspending the use of Twitter and other forms of social media by players.” Cardinals DT Darnell Dockett tweeted Wednesday that he nearly went to the Cardinals facility "with a handgun before realizing that his book bag was a little heavy." Titans RB Chris Johnson, who came to an agreement on a new contract Thursday, “reacted earlier in the week to fans who accused him of greed.” Johnson wrote, "Can these fake Titan fans STFU (shut the expletive up) on my timeline." On Wednesday, Texans RB Arian Foster, who is “nursing a twingy hamstring, tweeted out a photo of his MRI.” Young writes, “There seems to be no end to the dumb things athletes can convey in 140 characters or less” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 9/2).