• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 5, 2007

LAS VEGAS -- Could the NFL launch a "Pigskin's Funniest Home Videos"? The league has kicked the idea around, although tackling issues such as revenue generation remain.

Top NFL executive Kim Williams floated the idea at a panel discussion at the American Association of Advertising Agencies' media conference Friday. The league would jump on the user-generated content bandwagon by allowing people to use NFL game footage, music and the unmistakable voiceovers from NFL Films in their own homemade videos or mashups.

The amateur creations--likely to include fathers filming their would-be Peyton Mannings and then overlaying narration from NFL Films or interspersing actual NFL highlights--could then be posted on NFL.com, Williams said.

The NFL has only recently brought control of NFL.com in-house.

While Williams suggested a sort of NFL version of "America's Funniest Home Videos" would be "fun for us to do," she cautioned that the concept is merely in a discussion stage within league offices.

Already, similar videos have made it to YouTube and Google, prompting cease-and-desist letters from NFL lawyers. But their proliferation certainly validates consumer hunger. "That's exciting," she said. "It means our fans are engaged."

As with most content companies--and Williams emphasized that the NFL is most assuredly a media player with the NFL Network and other properties--it becomes a balancing act between copyright protection and potential marketing or revenue streams.

"I don't think we want to forbid and restrict our fans from interacting with the NFL and its content and [extending] their avidity for the sport," she said.

But where would dollars come from if a backyard "coach" wants to showcase his son's passing accuracy? Pre-roll ads? Perhaps charging for the right to use the NFL clips and voiceovers to create a mashup? "How you track it and monetize it ... is the Catch 22," Williams said.

One thing Williams acknowledged: the dollars at stake are far less than the billions NBC, ESPN and others pay to broadcast league games.