On Monday, Florio passed along a report stating that most NFL teams haven’t come up with a plan about how to use the locker room cameras that the NFL ordered them to install before the 2013 season to provide exclusive stadium video for people buying tickets to attend games.
The teams are free to use (or not use) the video as they see fit and linebacker Clay Matthews is likely hoping that the Packers choose not to use the video at all. Matthews spoke to Jarrett Bell of USA Today about the NFL’s plans and said he thought that the idea of cameras in the locker room was a “perversion.”
“I’m not a fan of that, and I’m not afraid to say that,” Matthews said. “The availability of the athletes is already so great to fans, the organization and the media, but now to add the locker room -- our one sanctuary, which is even taken over by the media -- and now you throw in cameras? You think ‘cameras in the locker room’ and what does that conjure up images of? It’s a privacy issue. I know they’re trying to give the fans more of an experience, but what more can you do? We do interviews on the sideline, there’s social media. You can’t leave the parking lot without people swarming your cars. I’m not a fan of it.”
Matthews explained his privacy concerns by saying that he’s had fans follow him home on multiple occasions, something he called “scary.” While that would seem like an occupational hazard Matthews will have to deal with whether or not there are cameras in the locker room, it would also qualify as the concerns that the NFLPA asked players to share with them in April after the NFL made their camera decree without consulting the union.
Since the Packers don’t have a problem selling tickets, Matthews might have less to worry about from the video than players on teams trying to drum up sales. Should enough players make their opposition to the cameras known, though, there could be a bigger fight looming on this front.