The NFL has had a this rep throughout the sports world as "the no-fun league" for a little while now and has been trying to improve on that. Celebrations are a huge part of the sport and at one point athletes were very limited on what they could do. Beginning in 2017 they changed those rules in order to hopefully bring more attention to the game, which it did, so much so that the athletes began to dig real deep for inspiration into new dances and such. Many began using dances that were also very common in the video game Fortnite. The rest of the article continues to explain how famous the celebrations had become and how end-zone celebrations and Fortnite dances can and can't be trademarked.
I thought the article was interesting because it went into detail how exactly something like a dance or movement can be trademarked. I learned that even though it is difficult to trademark a dance if it is short in length but Fortnite proved otherwise, making millions off of people who try to claim the dance as their own. In terms of popular culture, you see these dances all over your Instagram and Twitter, bringing a large amount of attention to the NFL and Fortnite.
Avakiantz, Alex. “Stealing Swagger: Nfl End Zone Celebrations and Fortnite’s Fortune.” Washington Law Review, vol. 94, no. 1, Mar. 2019, pp. 453–479. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip&db=a9h&AN=136062260&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
I read the article and thought you hit the topic head on! The NFL was definitely known as the no fun league for many years and when they changed the rules in 2017 to allow more celebrations it was perfect timing as fortnite had just became popular and the game itself being known for its dances.
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