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The NFL is looking to change the way it does business. This time, however, it is not a new rule change or some prohibition on what a play may or may not do, it is a halftime thing; and not halftime of a Week 7 contest, but halftme of the biggets game of the year. The league has asked, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the finalists for this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show to pay the league for the right to play.
The report indicates the league has narrowed the selections down to Coldplay, Rhianna, and Katy Perry, with the announcement of the act expected sometime during the regular season. Much of the deciding factor may be the idea that the artists owe the league some sort of payment for the publicity of performing during the Super Bowl. The report states that the league as asked "some of the acts if they would be willing to contribute a portion of their post-Super Bowl tour income to the league, or if they would make some other type of financial contribution."
The NFL does not pay the artists for their performances during the championship game, but seems to be serious about the pay-to-play concept. While the report indicates initial reception to the pay-to-play idea was "chilly," it also sugests that the league could look to expand the initial finalists list in a search for someone who will agree to the payment idea.