STARKVILLE — The Twitter hashtag will need to be taken out of the end zone at Davis Wade Stadium.
The NCAA Football Rules Committee sent a memo last month to the athletic departments of member schools informing them of the ban on Twitter hashtags on football fields.
Mississippi State University was the first school to use a Twitter hashtag, a symbol used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet as a way to categorize messages, when it used the words “#HAILSTATE” for the 2011 Egg Bowl game against the University of Mississippi.
Chad Thomas, who at the time of the decision to paint the end zone in that fashion was Mississippi State athletics department’s director of marketing, said in November 2011 he hoped the end zone hashtag would reach beyond just football fans. Thomas left MSU earlier this year to take another job.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it does become a trend,” Thomas said. “The fact is that one in four people now have smart phones in the United States, and that number is going to continue to grow, so why wouldn’t you, if you’re a sports team?”
According to the wording of the rules memo dated April 17 regarding field markings, Twitter hashtags now fall under a prohibition of “advertising on the football field” except for exceptions that include the NCAA logo, a conference logo, a college name and logo and title sponsor of a stadium, and/or postseason game.
“Hashtags in football stadiums are OK, just not on the playing field,” NCAA spokesperson Stacy Osburn said. “The Football Rules Committee clarified this rule because it wants as clean a field as possible.”
MSU will likely now have to go back to using the full words of “MISSISSIPPI STATE” and “BULLDOGS” in either end zone. MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin joked about the ruling Wednesday evening on Twitter as a response.
“What if we promise to hashtag responsibly? #HailState #RingResponsibly,” Stricklin tweeted referencing the cowbell compromise to Southeastern Conference legislation.
Rogers Redding, the national coordinator for college football officials, told USA Today the NCAA will allow schools to use Twitter hashtags on the sidelines or on the walls in stadium.
“The idea is to preserve the integrity of the field and not open it up to other kinds of advertising,” Redding said.
The April 17 memo pertains only to college football. MSU also has “#HAILSTATE” on the out of bounds areas on the Humphrey Coliseum court.
The University of Michigan also painted the hashtag “#GOBLUE” in two places on its field for its annual spring football scrimmage in 2012.
This ruling on field markings adds to the language that was already in place that states schools “may not obscure any portion of any yard line, sideline, or goal line. Each line in its entirety must be clearly visible to the officials on the field. These (advertisement) markings may not touch or enclose the hash marks.” In the past two years, MSU had to get a written waiver from the NCAA to black out the 36-yard-line to honor the late Nick Bell.
If a school is looking for corporate sponsor on the field of play, the NCAA has designated the end zone pylons as a way to do that. According to a new amendment created for the 2013 season, the pylons “may bear a manufacturer’s logo or trademark, including institutional logos, conference logos, and the name/commercial logo of the title sponsor of postseason games.” However, any such marking on the pylon may not extend more than three inches on any side.
Last year, the University of Akron tried printing its Twitter handle on the back of player jerseys, but the NCAA rejected that request.
According to the memo from the NCAA, the second part of the legislation will be about a change to uniforms that states “Jersey numerals must be of a color that itself is clearly in distinct contrast with the color of the jersey, irrespective of any border around the number.” The uniform rule change would’ve made the jerseys adidas designed for MSU to wear against Texas A&M University last year illegal. The jerseys honored the anniversary of the MSU’s victory against Texas A&M in the 2000 Independence Bowl, or “Snow Bowl” game.
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