Book question

I am working on a book concerning a NFL team. I am looking to self-publish (I know I will get a lot of feedback as to why I shouldn't got that route). For the sake of this query, however, lets go along with the fact it would be self-published. My question is can I use the team's logo or photo of a player on the cover? Do I need written consent from the team? Do teams grant permission for such purposes? Would using the logo come under "fair use?" If not, do you have any suggestions as to how I could illustrate the cover in an effective manner? Do you know of anyone I can contact for a specific answers without going to some high-priced lawyer. Thank you for your input.

 

You will definitely need the team's and the league's consent to use the logo. If the photo of the player was taken by you or you paid the photographer or the service for the photo, then you should be fine, as long as give you proper photo credit.

 

Yup, the logo is your only real issue here.

 

I spoke to a friend of mine who is a newspaper copy editor. He said that their paper, like most, will sell copies of front pages. He said that if the paper had a staff-generated photo of the team, they were prohibited from selling the page because of the NFL. Can anyone please clarify?