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NFL Can "Go Get Stuffed" Says David Viecelli About Pay-to-Play Scheme, American Federation of Musicians Follows

The NFL may feel a slight blow back from professional musicians after they're latest money-grubbing scheme: artists and performers will pay-to-play the Super Bowl.

Yes, this is for real.

The American Federation of Musicians released a statement regarding the latest scandal to address of few points of concern for any act passing through the football porthole.

"It's not like the NFL and its Super Bowl organizers don't have any money and can't afford to pay for halftime show performances," says American Federation of Musicians International President Ray Hair, "it's about the insatiable thirst for profits at the expense of great musical entertainment and those who create it."

"You can find kickback schemes like this coming from unscrupulous bar and nightclub owners, but for the NFL to descend to such depths would be unconscionable," he continued.

Maybe bands and musicians scrubbing their way across the underground can be subjected to such schemes (and not that they should engage in these schemes simply based on rank, either) but a professional organization claiming rights to a performance, and even post-show tour earnings, sounds rather belittling.

The NFL doesn't pay performers to begin with, and the league's annual revenue, which includes the cost of a 30-second TV ad at $3.8 million, is more than $9 billion. And yet, the commissioner Roger Goodell says he wants to hit $25 billion by 2027.

An explicit reaction has already been issued by a national organization and is echoed by other industry reps to the likes Arcade Fire and Mumford and Sons.

Perhaps the half-time show can find half-assed in-house talent for this one.

Would you ask Bruno to pay?

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