The National
Football League and the newly formed National Women's
Football League are apparently at odds over the name
of the NWFL's league championship game's name, two teams
logos, and the name of the league itself. The name of
the NWFL's league championship game is the "SupHERbowl"
which is amazingly similar to the NFL's championship
game the "Super Bowl." The NFL has asked the
NWFL to change the name of the championship and change
the name of the league.
"We think it's great that the women are playing
professional football," said NFL representative
Brian McCarthy. "It's simply a matter of our desire
to change the name."
The NWFL disagrees with the NFL and feels they should
be able to keep the name. They do not have any plans
as of this time to change the name soon.
However, they have been having discussions with the
NFL trying to work something out. According to Debbie
Lening, NWFL vice president of the marketing and media
relations they have not been impressed with the offers
that the NFL has offered to them.
"They've offered a few things, but it just wasn't
enough. We've been talking but they want us to do everything
and they do nothing. So we just said no,". Lening
said the NFL has offered advertisements in programs
and paid television ads but they did not state and specifics
on how long the ads would be or how much television
time the ads would have.
"We're not going to do everything and they do nothing,"
added Lening.
Cheryl Fields, owner and general manager of the Kansas
City Krunch, the women's professional football team
in the area can understand the position of the NFL,
but feels they should not have to change their league
and championship name.
"I can see where the NFL can be concerned about
it sounding similar, however, I'm with the (NWFL),"
she said.
According to the NWFL, their argument is the NFL did
not have any problems with their name until they were
able to obtain a betting line for their football games.
"The NFL didn't care a hoot about us until we got
the betting line on our SupHerbowl. Within three days
of that announcement, we started getting letters from
their legal department telling us they didn't like the
SupHerbowl name, several of our team's logos and the
name of the league itself," noted NWFL CEO and
founder Catherine Masters.
McCarthy said that is not true. The NFL, according to
McCarthy, is happy and wishes the league good luck on
their season, but always had disagreed with the name.
The betting line had no added effect of their decision
at all.
The NWFL has been in action for the last two years.
They have just recently started the expansion Krunch
here in Kansas City. They have a 30-team league in cities
such as Pittsburgh, Pa., Oklahoma City, Okla., Roanoke,
Va., Oakland, Calif., Junction City, Kan., and St. Louis.
The league will begin the season on April 12. The regular
season will end June 14. There will be three playoffs
rounds then the championship game on Aug. 2.
Kansas City Kansan Online 11/03/2000
