The NFL’s players union is siding with the musicians in the dust-up over pay-to-play for
the Super Bowl halftime show. “The NFL Players Association will always support workers
and fair wages,” a spokesman for the NFL Players Association says. Union pushback is
mounting against the NFL’s reported plan to get halftime acts to pay to perform at future
Super Bowls. The AFL-CIO’s Department of Professional Employees today just joined the
American Federation of Musicians in condemning such a plan.“No one should ever pay to
work. No organization should ever get a kickback from a worker they employ,” the labor
organization said of the plan, first detailed in the Wall Street Journal. “The Department of
Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, its affiliates in the entertainment industry, and the other
unions, 22 in all, will stand with the AFM in condemning and will fight back against any
attempts to make workers pay to perform,” the group said of the plan to convince music
acts to cough up cash to play the halftime show, most likely in the form of a cut of post-show
ticket sales, downloads, etc.
The NFL has not been paying its Super Bowl halftime performers — most recently Bruno
Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers at this year’s game. That February 2 halftime show actually
clocked more viewers than did the football game. Some of music’s biggest acts have played
the halftime shows including Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Rolling
Stones, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé and Prince.
“It’s not like the NFL and its Super Bowl organizers don’t have any money and can’t afford to
pay for halftime show performances, it’s about the insatiable thirst for profits at the expense
of great musical entertainment and those who create it,” AFM President Ray Hair said. “You
can find kickback schemes like this coming from unscrupulous bar and nightclub owners, but
for the NFL to descend to such depths would be unconscionable.”
Source: Deadline