Buffalo Bills New Media Policy Makes No Sense

With no real benefit, the Buffalo Bills decision to alter their media guidelines is a puzzling move that is destined to create conflict.

The Buffalo Bills announced their new media guidelines for the 2016 season on Tuesday. Usually this would not be a topic of discussion, but when the new policy rivals national security standards, it inevitably garners a ton of attention.

Here are some of the new guidelines that affect any media member covering the Bills:

With fans depending on the media for access and insight on their beloved Buffalo Bills, it’s hard to see how the team thought this move would be a good idea.

There’s zero competitive advantage to a decision like this since it’s no secret that the schemes fans see during training camp are far from complete — at least according to what coaches say.

If having video of their practices leak onto the Internet is a genuine concern, I don’t understand how this resolves anything. A fan could easily come in with their cell phone and record any bit of practice they want.

ESPN‘s Louis Riddick summed it up best when he said it’s “a dumb policy that has nothing to do with drafting good players and winning football games.”

If the Bills are really this concerned with how the media covers their team, perhaps they should take a page out of the Minnesota Vikings playbook. The Vikings are hosting film sessions with head coach Mike Zimmer in order to help the media better understand how to write about game strategy and evaluate players.

With football being such a complex game, helping the media understand it from a more schematical perspective will only benefit everyone involved.

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Unfortunately, with these new guidelines in place, the biggest loser here is the fans. Last year Bills’ fans were able to see every Sammy Watkins highlight reel catch throughout training camp and it created quite the buzz on social media.

Thankfully, this new media policy is just in place for OTAs and minicamp, so fans will still be able see footage of every one-handed grab made by Watkins during training camp.

But if the Bills do decide to keep this policy in place during training camp, every highlight will be kept under wraps and heavily guarded by the Bills’ media police.

Again, this is just another situation where the fans lose. Other leagues like the NBA have embraced social media, while the NFL seems to be trying to control any part of the league they can.

Whether it be threatening to fine players for showing up to a fantasy football convention, or sending notices to take down GIFs on Twitter, the NFL is consistently trying to control how fans digest their product.

Next: Bills: Make or Break Season for Kouandjio

It will be interesting to see how the Bills manage this policy going forward, but it sure seems like it’s destined to fail.

What do you think of the Buffalo Bills new media guidelines? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.