For Steelers receiver Antonio Brown, the far more significant problem arising from his decision to post live video from the locker room after Sunday night’s win over the Chiefs flows from the undoubtedly strong reaction his head coach will have to the maneuver -- especially because the video itself includes an admonition from Mike Tomlin to be smart on social media. But Brown’s behavior created a pair of other problems, for him and for the Steelers.
For starters, Brown violated the league’s social-media policy, which prohibits tweets, live videos, etc. from 90 minutes before kickoff through the conclusion of the post-game media obligations. For that infraction, Brown undoubtedly will be fined.
The broader problem from the team’s perspective is that Brown’s decision to broadcast live video triggers a violation of the league’s TV contracts. The broadcast partners have exclusive rights to video shot in the locker room after the game, and the teams or the league can’t use it for 24 hours. While it’s unlikely that NBC will make a fuss about it, it’s the kind of practice that teams need to prevent; if unchecked, it eventually could trigger a claim that the deals are being breached.
