Media: Who owns the rights to high school athletic events?
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A federal court case stemming from a Wisconsin newspaper’s decision to run a live Webcast of a football playoff game is pitting the oldest state athletic association in the country against the oldest newspaper association.
At issue are the rights to high school athletic events, and it appears a Madison, Wis., judge will have the final say. The case is scheduled to go to trial Feb. 8 and is expected to be monitored closely by other high school athletic associations around the country.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Assn. contends that The-Post Crescent of Appleton, Wis., broke its media policies when it Webcast a state quarterfinal playoff game in November. The WIAA says it owns the rights to the Web stream because it organizes, supervises and sponsors tournaments.
The Wisconsin Newspaper Assn. contends that the WIAA does not own the rights to events.
‘They don’t own a commodity to sell, market or otherwise control,’ Don Craven, an attorney who helped the Illinois Press Assn. settle a photo rights issue in 2007, told Associated Press. ‘They should put on a very nice tournament and get out of the news business.’
--Ben Bolch