Illinois HS Association denied photo passes?

[VinnyC01]

I hope this is not the start of a nation wide cut back.

http://www.ihsa.org/announce/2007-08/2007-11-23.htm

Your thoughts?

[JSPhoto]

Indiana and Ill tend to copy each other, in this case I think Ill took Indianas lead, one reason I am not shooting the state finals. The problem here is these associations are money hungry and THINK that us photographers are making a living at the state finals. Especially when they see photographers and papers selling photos for upwards of $20 each. In fact, by the time you consider all the expenses a newspaper is still losing money, and a private /freelance photograper will be lucky to make any profit. I know many a photographer who will no longer shoot any IHSAA tourny events. Here the IHSAA rules apply to the entire post season, not just the state finals.
These associations are actually spending a bundle of money trying learn how to make more money. Here they did a study that took over a year to complete that showsthe IHSAA finals for all sports the finals are played in Indy brings in more money than the Indiana Pacers and in second in fan approval behind the Colts.
Unfortunately as well much of what these groups are learning is being taken from NASCAR, especially in the respects of licensing and video and photography restrictions. Funny, I could sell to newspapers, magazines and websites but not to parents and family members of state finalists....whats wrong with these people?
Even worse, the quality, or should I say lack of quality is actually hurting these organizations more the few sales these photographers and newspapers are making, but the trick is trying to get the organizations to see that. The contract the photo work to a "company" that hires, in many cases people with little to no experiance shooting, let alone sports.
I was looking over state finals football photos from one season and there were maybe 15 photos worth selling out of over 3,000. The next year the IHSAA had a different company and similar results. Unfortunately the people shooting these events don't really care because the results are not performance related... ie: piaid a percentage of sales, instead they get a flat fee and maybe a 5 to 10% out the profits of the sales which doesn't force the photographers to worrry about doing a good job.

JS

[dhyravy]

Much the same type of situation here in KY although more so with BB than any other sport. Having thought about this since last year it seems to me that the KHSAA/IHSAA would be better served to put up a web site on the order of MaxPreps which is controlled by the league but the shots can be contributed by any of the credentialed photogs who would receive a percentage from any sales of their images. That would give them the income they seek, control over the quality of the images, and allow more good photogs the opportunity to shoot the state events. Just my .02 worth.

[JSPhoto]

Much the same type of situation here in KY although more so with BB than any other sport. Having thought about this since last year it seems to me that the KHSAA/IHSAA would be better served to put up a web site on the order of MaxPreps which is controlled by the league but the shots can be contributed by any of the credentialed photogs who would receive a percentage from any sales of their images. That would give them the income they seek, control over the quality of the images, and allow more good photogs the opportunity to shoot the state events. Just my .02 worth.

That may be, however there is one problem that I see, and that is that the IHSAA at least is a non-profit that is only around because the State Legislature put them there. As a non profit they cannot, from my understanding make a profit. They do not pay taxes on their property or on the money they rake in from all the tournements. Granted, some loose money, but thats more than made up for in the football and basketball finals, to the tune of nearly a million dollars a year after expenses and saleries. Thats one of my concerns about their money hungary attitude, especialy concerning photographers.

JS

[berrywise]

The newspaper need to ban together and just not cover the events, not by their writers or photographers. Set a precedent. Yes, it will be a pain for the parents and kids that get skipped but they should learn its not the papers fault.

The thought that some papers are using AP or even worse, asking for parents to submit photos is a total joke and is only going to get them banned from more events in the future.

[JSPhoto]

The newspaper need to ban together and just not cover the events, not by their writers or photographers. Set a precedent. Yes, it will be a pain for the parents and kids that get skipped but they should learn its not the papers fault.

The thought that some papers are using AP or even worse, asking for parents to submit photos is a total joke and is only going to get them banned from more events in the future.

Nrewspapers are never going to band together for anything, this is a cutthroat business and no one will agree on anything. Ptivately they might all send letters in disgust, but thats as far as it would go. For most schools they will never get to the state finals, so if they do make it the paper that covers them won't dare not show up or they would get thrown out of town the next day.

As for using AP or a parents photos, that happens all the time, and here it happens a lot for the state finals as most small papers do not have the budget to pay staff to drive all the way to Indy and cover a game. Our paper ran 5 or 6 AP photos this year from the football finals just because the staff photog was busy and so was I, of course none of our county teams were in it, but there were still some good stories.

JS