NFL Cuts Out Shout-Out To St. Louis In HoF Speech YouTube Upload, Streisand Effect Takes Over

Too Much Free Time

from the rammed-home dept

The NFL is almost a perfect study in how the combination of an attempt at strict control of its content and a complete lack of understanding of the Streisand Effect will produce the opposite of the intended result. Past versions of this have included the NFL’s insane claim of copyright on the only footage that exists of the original Super Bowl, meaning nobody actually gets to see the footage, as well as the league’s attempt to bury an ESPN documentary about head trauma as it relates to football. In both cases, the NFL comes out looking petty at best, and much worse in the case of trying to hide the negative health effects of the game from the parents of children who might otherwise play it.

But even that kind of evil and petty takes a back seat to the NFL deciding to cut out a portion of Orlando Pace’s Hall of Fame induction speech in which he gives a shout-out to the city of St. Louis, former host of the Rams.

St. Louis football fans who hoped to see a shout-out from the Rams’ newest Hall-of-Famer Orlando Pace might have been disappointed if they watched the version of his speech uploaded to the NFL’s YouTube channel. While the other inductees’ speeches from last night’s event are presented unedited by the NFL—including Brett Favre’s 37-minute misunderstanding of “go long”—Pace’s speech is cut off before he gets to the portion where he tells St. Louis fans that “nothing can ever take [our championship] away from you.”

The Rams, of course, just recently bailed on St. Louis for Los Angeles, to the tune of much strife and controversy. And as much as I love digging at St. Louis sports fans, the NFL’s attempt to control its brand message by removing a short, innocuous tip of the cap to a city that a Hall of Fame player called home for so long is almost hilarious in its petty cruelty.

And, as per usual, it didn’t really work anyway. That Streisand Effect will get you every time. When people noticed that the NFL’s official upload had the shout-out to St. Louis edited out, that editing was reported on, and the portion of the speech that had been omitted suddenly became share-worthy. Nice try, guys.

Filed Under: orlando pace, rams, streisand effect
Companies: nfl