NCAA Puts Limits On Live Blogging Sports Events

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071220/010939.shtml

NCAA Puts Limits On Live Blogging Sports Events
from the a-new-low dept
For years, we've been pointing out how ridiculous it is for professional sports leagues to try to claim ownership of game data. Facts cannot be covered by copyright -- and neither can your own description of the events on the field. However, many of the leagues still wanted to claim that you couldn't report the facts of the game without paying a license. Trying to show how ridiculous this claim was, I asked where it ended, saying: "If I'm at the game, and I use my mobile phone to report what I see, is that considered 'rebroadcasting' the game? What if I'm posting the information to a web site?" The point had been that no one would rationally think that was against the rules. How naive I was apparently...

Acting even worse than a professional sports league, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), got things rolling last summer by ejecting a live blogger from a college baseball game. Apparently, the NCAA had decided that this was too close to "rebroadcasting" and ridiculously believing that fans might just watch a liveblog report rather than the actual event on TV. This kicked up some attention -- and you would think that the NCAA would have realized what a dumb policy this was and backed down. Not so.

Instead, the NCAA has now instituted special "live-blogging rules" for anyone credentialed to cover NCAA events. The rules change per sport, but they limit how many times you can blog during the course of a game. For baseball: once per inning (not even once per half-inning!). For basketball, it's five times per half, once during half-time, and twice in overtime. Football is three times per quarter and once at half-time. It even covers the more obscure sports: you can only blog 10 times per day at a swimming match, for example. You can see all the details here (pdf).

Now, before anyone goes screaming censorship or free speech or anything along those lines -- these are the rules that the NCAA is setting for credentialed reporters. And, as a private organization, the NCAA can set whatever rules it wants for handing out credentials, no matter how mind-numbingly stupid they may be. If I were a publication covering NCAA sports, I would simply buy my reporters tickets to the games, rather than getting them in on a press pass under such rules. What's really idiotic, though, is that this makes no sense. Limiting live blogging only hurts the sport. The people who follow live blogs are the really passionate fans -- the ones who love the game the most. They follow the live blogs not as a substitute for watching the game on TV or attending in person -- but because they cannot view the games that way and/or they want to feel the camaraderie of discussing the event with other passionate fans. Cutting off the ability of a reporter to feed info to these fans simply makes no sense. It's hurting your most passionate fans for no good reason whatsoever.


http://www2.ncaa.org/portal/media_and_e ... policy.pdf

2007-08 CONDITIONS PLACED ON USE OF MEDIA CREDENTIALS
This working credential is issued for the sole purpose of providing facility access to an accredited media
entity’s employee or designated representative who has a legitimate working function (media or game service)
in connection with this championship. It is nontransferable. The person receiving this credential (“Credential
Holderâ€Â

[vault3rb0y]

Pointless. Theres so many ways to get around that. Even if we need more than 10 updates on the vault per day, just have 2 or 3 people blog during the course of the day, and we can have 20-30 posts.

[rainbowgirl28]

Pointless. Theres so many ways to get around that. Even if we need more than 10 updates on the vault per day, just have 2 or 3 people blog during the course of the day, and we can have 20-30 posts.

It only applies to people with media credentials. I probably just would not get media credentials and work around it. Maybe I'll have a blackberry or iPhone by that point

[Bubba PV]

The REAL humor is that they don’t ever show more than one or two vaults anyway. I LOVE the way Becca and other contributors cover events. Thanks so much for that!! Bubba

[littlebigboy]

If you ever watch golf, track could do the same thing. They bounce from hole to hole shot to shot. If they had the cameras it would make watching track a whole different animal. And it would not be hard to get more than 1 or 2 vaults or High Jumps LJ TJ shot etc.

[Bubba PV]

You're right littlebigboy, but that would make too much sense!

What's funny is that USATF is now showing live video from Nationals. At Masters and Junior Olympic Nationals last year the camera looked at the empty start/finish line even though the vault was going on. I had to hope for a 5K run so I could see the vault whenever they passed by the pit.

Hopefully that will improve in the future. Bubba