When preparing for your Super Bowl LVII party, you may pick up drinks, food, and a projector so you and your friends can watch the game in comfort. Oh, and do not forget to study law.

Understanding how the United States law affects a Super Bowl party can be difficult, and that ignorance is what got a church in legal trouble in 2008.

In Indianapolis, Indiana, Fall Creek Baptist Church decided to host a Super Bowl party. They advertised the event as a ‘Super Bowl’ party on their website.

At this gathering – there would be food available. To cover any expenses, there was an admissions fee.

The National Football League (NFL) caught wind of the event and sent a cease-and-desist letter. Contained in the letter was the notion that their event was violating copyright law.

Exactly the copyright law that was violated was, “U.S. Code 110 – Limitations on exclusive rights: exemption of certain performances and displays.” Section 110(4) negates the, “performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work otherwise than in a transmission to the public, without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage and without payment of any fee… for the performance.”

A performance in this case is presenting the recorded Super Bowl. This was presented to the public and required the payment of a fee.

Copyright law also requires that establishments broadcasting a performance cannot have an, “audiovisual device [that] has a diagonal screen size greater than 55 inches” according to  Section 110 (3)(II).

This screen size is decided by Section 110(5)(A), which only allows, “transmission on a single receiving apparatus of a kind commonly used in private homes.” The Church was using a projector, which broke this limit.

When the public became aware of the NFL’s warning, the league received immense pressure nationwide. Even Sen. Arlen Specter of the Senate Judiciary Committee proposed a bill that provided religious organizations exemptions from this copyright law in regard to broadcasting the Super Bowl.

Two weeks following the introduced bill, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to Sen. Orrin G. Hatch that said, “the league will not object to live showings – regardless of screen size – of the Super Bowl by a religious organization when such showings are free and on premises used by the religious organization on a routine and customary basis.”

Goodell’s statement lays out these rules that the NFL later presented, according to The Christian Post, as basic guidelines for hosting a Super Bowl game:

-“Churches can legally host Super Bowl parties on their premises;

-Churches may show the game on whatever size screen they want;

-While churches may not charge admission, they may take up a donation to help with the cost of the event, if desired;

-Finally, to avoid any copyright infringements, churches may want to call their event a ‘Big Game Party’ rather than a ‘Super Bowl Party.’”

These rules make it clear what a Church can and cannot do. However, how does this affect your Super Bowl party?

How you can avoid legal trouble with the NFL is do not host a public screening of the game, do not advertise your screening using copyrighted language, and do not charge admissions. It’s as simple as that.