Mike Tomlin has spent most of his public life being associated with football, but his latest viral moment came from a hobby that had nothing to do with playbooks, game plans, or the Pittsburgh Steelers. His Minecraft project unexpectedly became one of the most talked-about stories around the former coach, with NBC itself helping push the story to an even wider audience. That coverage, however, has now created an unusual problem for NBC.

Barstool Sports personality Big Cat publicly accused the network of using his voice without permission in its coverage of Tomlin’s Minecraft project. He directed the complaint at ProFootballTalk, which is part of NBC Sports, and attached a rather unconventional condition to his threat of legal action.

“Hey @ProFootballTalk, I did not give NBC permission to use my voice on the Tomlin Minecraft piece! I will have no choice but to sue unless you ask Mike Tomlin to come on PMT (must ask nicely). I await your legal response,” Big Cat wrote on X.

Big Cat, whose real name is Dan Katz, is one of Barstool Sports’ best-known personalities and co-hosts Pardon My Take alongside PFT Commenter. Barstool’s own profile lists him as a host of Pardon My Take, The Yak, and The Rundown.

The timing is notable because Big Cat and PFT Commenter had already discussed Tomlin’s Minecraft project on Pardon My Take. During the September 9 episode, the hosts talked about Tomlin’s revelation that he had been building a Minecraft city for roughly 12 years.

Tomlin’s Minecraft story itself began attracting attention after he revealed on NBC’s Today that he started playing when his children were young. What began as something he did with his kids eventually became his own long-running project and a way to escape the pressures of football.

“I started playing Minecraft, man, when my kids were young. I have a Minecraft city … that I’ve been working on for like 12 years,” Tomlin said.

The project eventually became so detailed that Tomlin released a roughly 19-minute video titled “Rooftops, Penthouses, and Urban Living.” The virtual city includes high-rise buildings, apartments, waterfront areas, and other carefully planned structures. NBC’s ProFootballTalk then published its own video on October 1, with Mike Florio and Chris Simms reacting to Tomlin’s creation and discussing the importance of having interests outside football.

Le’Veon Bell also reacted to the reveal with a joke about his former Steelers coach. The former Pittsburgh running back, who played under Mike Tomlin from 2013 to 2017, wrote on X:

“We were tryna win Super Bowls and Coach T was on Minecraft building cities 😭.”

The Cleveland Browns got involved too. After beating the Steelers on Thursday Night Football, Cleveland’s official account shared a Minecraft-themed post poking fun at Tomlin and his virtual city.

Big Cat’s lawsuit comment came across with a playful tone, but there is still some legal ground behind the issue he raised. In the U.S., a person’s voice can receive legal protection in certain situations, particularly when someone uses it for commercial purposes without permission.

Bette Midler took Ford to court after the company used a singer to mimic her voice in a commercial, while Tom Waits won his case against Frito-Lay over a sound-alike used in a Doritos advertisement. Those cases involved advertising, though, which makes them quite different from NBC using audio in a sports-media segment.

For Big Cat, there is a much easier way to settle the whole thing. He wants NBC to simply ask Tomlin to come on Pardon My Take, and apparently, asking nicely is part of the deal. If Tomlin agrees, Big Cat could get exactly what he wants: a front-row seat to hearing the coach explain his Minecraft masterpiece himself.