Microsoft is coaching NFL announcers not to say their tablet is an iPad

The NFL takes its sponsorships very seriously. There’s the official beer (Bud Light), official cell phone wireless company (Verizon), official sandwich (Subway), official fast food restaurant (McDonald’s), official soft drink (Pepsi), official headphones (Bose), official credit card (VISA), official athletic shoe (Nike), official package carrier (FedEx) and so on and so forth. Saying their competitors or even wearing them brings scorn from the league and the official sponsors.

Starting this season, the NFL has a lucrative deal with Microsoft to provide Surface Pro 3 tablets to the league’s teams to replace the old clipboard and pictures on the sidelines. In addition for this sponsorship, the NFL provides content to Xbox platforms.

If you have watched the NFL pregame shows this season, you may have noticed Surface tablets sprinkled all over CBS, Fox and NFL Network sets as product placement.

Back in Week 1 during the New Orleans-Atlanta game, Fox announcers John Lynch and Kevin Burkhardt noticed that Saints quarterback Drew Brees was looking at a tablet on the sidelines. Lynch said, “Drew Brees … is not watching movies on his iPad …” and he went further calling them “the iPad-like tools.” That was not what Microsoft wanted to hear. So the company has been coaching announcers to say “Microsoft Surface” and not “iPad.”

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to the Business Insider that it has reached out to certain announcers:

“It’s true, we have coached up a select few. That coaching will continue to ensure our partners are well equipped to discuss Surface when the camera pans to players using the device during games.”

So to those announcers who are caught saying “iPad” when they see a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 on the sidelines, just know that you’ll be getting a call from the Microsoft police for some “coaching.”

[Business Insider/The Verge]