Fox NFL Sunday is a very popular show in the football realm. The pre-game show includes former NFL players who discuss the NFL’s news around the NFL and upcoming games each Sunday. They often include entertaining skits and graphics that fans enjoy, as they make the show fun to watch and can add to the football experience. This past Sunday, one of their graphics ideas can find them getting into some trouble. They could be receiving an FCC fine for a bit they did this weekend that mocked the Emergency Alert System, including a faulty message and URL, that lead to a website that did not have to do with football. The emergency alert warned fans that the Philadelphia Eagles have a chance at making the playoffs. The URL that was on the page was not real, but somebody quickly picked it up and created a pro-Trump political page, which could be viewed as a bad look for the league. The FCC states that an Emergency Alert System transmission can only be used for a national, state, or local emergency or as an authorized test for the system, and Fox’s football EAS does not fall into that category.

This story interests me because as somebody who may be in the sports production and media field, this is an important lesson to learn from. The FCC is able to hand out hefty fines to networks for making crucial mistakes like this one. Fox should know better than to put out a false report of an Emergency Alert System message that is not actually for a serious matter. There should have been better planning for this skit or at least had made it very clear that the emergency alert was not real and to not include a fake URL on the screen.