Packers Ban Videos at Training Camp Practices

It appears that the Green Bay Packers are continuing with the recent trend of restricting access and fun for fans during training camp.

As pointed out by Aaron Nagler on Twitter, the Packers' official website now features an interesting little tidbit when it comes to the recording of videos and the taking of photographs at training camp practices. Here is the excerpt from the site:

Video recording devices (including cell phones as recording devices) and still cameras with lenses more than 12 inches long are prohibited at practice. Fans are welcome to use still photo camera (with lenses less than 12 inches in length) for your personal enjoyment. Commercial use of any photos taken at practice is prohibited.

Now, during the offseason program, fans were allowed to take videos, while the media could not. Now, it's clear that the team wants to discourage any and all moving pictures from making their way onto the internet and somehow into the enemy's hands.

Since a cell phone camera can easily be used to take both photos and video, we imagine that this policy will be a challenge to enforce. Most digital cameras, including digital SLR cameras, can quickly change back and forth from still-frame to video mode. Those cameras are also still expressly allowed by the policy.

Perhaps the Packers are relying on the honesty of their fans to not take videos. Perhaps they will have security personnel monitoring what fans are doing. We really have no idea how this policy will be enforced, but it's a step towards locking down practice more and more. Should we really be that surprised, though? The Packers have reduced the number of open practices in training camp over the years, and though they still have more sessions open to the public than many other teams, things are clearly getting locked down little by little.

In any case, CheesheadTV's Brian Carriveau may have the best tweet of the day on the subject:

I'll try to visit Packers training camp practice & provide video of security escorting away fans for grabbing mobile-quality practice vids.

— Brian Carriveau (@BrianCarriveau) July 8, 2014

Taking video of people being hauled away from practice for taking video? That's pretty brilliant.