The suits who run the National Football League have found a new, innovative way to look like a bunch of greedy bastards. They are now cracking down on churches that host Superbowl parties. Seriously:

The Super Bowl, the most secular of American holidays, has long been popular among churches. With parties, prayer and Christian DVDs replacing the occasionally racy halftime shows, churches use the event as a way to reach members, and potential new members, in a non-churchlike atmosphere.

“It takes people who are not coming frequently, or who have fallen away, and shows them that the church can still have some fun,” said the Rev. Thomas Omholt, senior pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in the District. Omholt has hosted a Super Bowl party for young adults in his home for 20 years. “We can be a little less formal.”

The NFL said, however, that the copyright law on its games is long-standing and the language read at the end of each game is well known: “This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience. Any other use of this telecast or any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL’s consent is prohibited.”

I’ll admit that watching the big game in a church does seem to be … well, not exactly what the House of God was intended for. But, hey, what do I know? If their pastors are cool with it and congregation enjoys the fellowship, then I’m not going to raise any objection.

I, however, am not an overly-litigious, ridiculously-lucrative entertainment industry:

The issue came to a head last year after the NFL sent a letter to Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis, warning the church not show the Super Bowl on a giant video screen. For years, the church had held a Super Bowl party in its auditorium, attracting about 400 people and showing the game on a big screen usually reserved for hymn lyrics.

The letter “was really a disturbing thing,” said Marlene Broome, a spokeswoman for the church.

The church canceled last year’s party. This year, its adult Sunday school classes are having parties in homes, but Broome said church members miss the big gatherings. “Everybody really had a good time,” she said.

Large Super Bowl gatherings around big-screen sets outside of homes shrink TV ratings and can affect advertising revenue, [NFL spokesman Brian] McCarthy said. “We have no objection to churches and others hosting Super Bowl parties as long as they . . . show the game on a television of the type commonly used at home,” he said. “It is a matter of copyright law.”

As is noted in the Washington Post story, the NFL does not enforce this law against sports bars.

You can almost imagine the NFL board meeting on this.

Suit: “Should we enforce the rebroadcast rule on those bars with the jumbo screens?”

Second Suit: “No, no, no. Trying to do THAT would create a serious backlash.”

First Suit: “How about bullying a few congregations that want to host a party for their members?”

Second Suit: “Now, that we can do.”