The NFL recently instigated a new policy that forbids individual teams from posting highlights to their social media accounts during games. According to a memo obtained by Sports Illustrated, teams that violate the rule will be fined upwards up $25,000 for a first offense and up to $100,000 for multiple offenses.
On Sunday, as their team played the Washington Redskins, the Philadelphia Eagles came up with a new and creative method of tweeting highlights without violating the new rule: video of an old-school electric football game aimed at recreating the plays in question.
Here, for example, is an interception by Malcolm Jenkins:
EXCLUSIVE highlight of Malcolm’s pick. #FlyEaglesFlypic.twitter.com/AiP7FYe3Nf
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 16, 2016
And here is a first down, collected by Wendell Smallwood:
Smallwood picks up the first down! #FlyEaglesFlypic.twitter.com/3wn5vnE7qV
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 16, 2016
The opening kickoff is especially noteworthy since part of the charm of the electric football games was that the players would just randomly move in different directions:
Kickoff. #FlyEaglesFlypic.twitter.com/U9qvvnuLUC
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 16, 2016
Philadelphia’s Twitter account is also retweeting the highlights from the NFL’s account, as we’ve seen other teams do as a way to get around the new rule.
But these tweets are a fun little jab at the NFL for the new rule, and hopefully they will inspire other creative efforts from other team’s social media accounts. After all, it’s only football.