A press conference scheduled for Thursday at the Steelers UPMC training facility on the South Side to promote quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's reality television show competition with Shaquille O'Neal has been canceled.

The cancellation comes one day after news surfaced of a civil lawsuit that was filed July 17 in Nevada by a woman claiming Roethlisberger sexually assaulted her in 2008.

A spokesman for ABC said the taping of the television show "Shaq Vs." will still take place Friday at Ambridge's Moe Rubenstein Stadium and is to be shown on ABC-TV Aug. 18. Gates will open at 7 p.m. with taping to begin around 8:30 p.m., said Ambridge athletic director Randy Cosgrove, later than the schedule announced earlier this week. Attendance will be limited to about 7,500 people.

In the meantime, an NFL spokesman said today that the league did not have enough information on the civil lawsuit against Roethlisberger to comment, nor determine how it might apply to the Personal Conduct Policy under commissioner Roger Goodell.

Said Greg Aiello, the NFL senior vice president of public relations in an email to the Post-Gazette: "The facts are not clear; it's a civil matter, and it's premature to comment on how the Personal Conduct Policy applies, if at all."

The NFL's Personal Conduct Policy gives the commissioner wide leeway to discipline a player he judges to have violated the league's standard of conduct. An infraction does not have to result in a crime nor, apparently, does it have to be judged by the courts to be illegal.

Here are excerpts from the code that could apply in Roethlisberger's case:

"While criminal activity is clearly outside the scope of permissible conduct, and persons who engage in criminal activity will be subject to discipline, the standard of conduct for persons employed in the NFL is considerably higher. It is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime. Instead, as an employee of the NFL or a member club, you are held to a higher standard and expected to conduct yourself in a way that is responsible, promotes the values upon which the League is based, and is lawful.

"Persons who fail to live up to this standard of conduct are guilty of conduct detrimental and subject to discipline, even where the conduct itself does not result in a conviction of a crime."

Among the various circumstances the Conduct Policy lists where discipline can be imposed, most of them illegal, are these two that could possibly apply to Roethlisberger:

• "Conduct that imposes inherent danger to the safety and well being of another person; and"

• "Conduct that undermines or puts at risk the integrity and reputation of the NFL, NFL clubs, or NFL players."

Steelers spokesman Dave Lockett said neither Steelers President Art Rooney II nor coach Mike Tomlin would comment on the lawsuit against Roethlisberger.

"At this point, we've heard his side of the story," Lockett said today. "We're not expecting to make a statement. All I would say is we're aware of it, it's in litigation and we can't comment on it. That's where we're leaving it at this point."

The Steelers report to training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe July 31.