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Proposed Kansas bill to take revenue from schools

By Chad Rader, 810 Varsity, 02/20/23, 9:15AM CST

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Bill also would reduce video broadcasts for softball, volleyball, other Kansas sports

A group of Kansas media has taken steps in the past months supporting a bill that will result in taking away revenue from schools, and reduce exposure for Kansas student-athletes in various sports.

The Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB) and other western and NE and SE Kansas media have supported a piece of legislation - Senate Bill 13 – which would nullify an agreement with the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NHFS). The agreement allows 15+ sports championships and 325+ games/matches to be video broadcast with announcers online annually via the NFHS Network.

Among those sports are softball, swimming/diving (boys and girls), volleyball, soccer (boys/girls) and cross country, which normally haven’t been broadcast by Kansas media.  

“Exclusivity has value,” stated Jeremy Holaday, KSHSAA assistant executive director last week to WIBW. “Therefore, events like cross country, swimming, baseball, softball will not get broadcasted. Local broadcasters are not doing those games for all schools like the KSHSAA has now under the media rights contract. The football team would get covered, yes. But all our activities are important. Without this contract, those other events will not be covered.”

"The football team would get covered, yes. But all our activities are important. Without this contract, those other events will not be covered.”

- Jeremy Holaday, KSHSAA

The bill’s recent amendments last week would also not allow schools to have the right to make decisions regarding home regular season game broadcasts– some schools have exercised the right to deny video broadcasts. Others opt for exclusive video broadcasts of their own regular season contests. The NFHS has provided over 200 Kansas member schools with over $300,000 since 2019, and $1.8 million in broadcast equipment and production costs.

“There are some schools that are struggling with ticket sales because of streaming. Due to this fact they have made decisions to limit streaming to people show up to support. This bill would eliminate their ability to do that,” Holaday said. “It also would eliminate the premise of NFHS providing broadcast equipment and revenue the schools and students wouldn’t otherwise have.”

“It also would eliminate ... broadcast equipment and revenue the schools and students wouldn’t otherwise have."

- Jeremy Holaday, KSHSAA

 

The bill’s recent amendments last week would also not allow schools to have the right to make decisions regarding home regular season game broadcasts– some schools have exercised the right to deny video broadcasts. Others opt for exclusive video broadcasts of their own regular season contests. The NFHS has provided over 200 Kansas member schools with over $300,000 since 2019, and $1.8 million in broadcast equipment and production costs.

“There are some schools that are struggling with ticket sales because of streaming. Due to this fact they have made decisions to limit streaming to people show up to support. This bill would eliminate their ability to do that,” Holaday said. “It also would eliminate the premise of NFHS providing broadcast equipment and revenue the schools and students wouldn’t otherwise have.”

But the KAB has – incorrectly - touted publicly that media and students aren’t allowed to cover postseason games, when in fact, KSHSAA allows radio coverage free media rights fees and no restrictions. Also, the NFHS Network does indeed allow student broadcasts in the postseason on its broadcast platform.

“These broadcasters are local members of their communities,” KAB President Allison Mazzei told KIBW last week. “They cover these kids and their sports all season long. Not only athletics — they are also streaming concerts [and] parades, they are there, and they are local and to deny them the right to cover the post-season events isn’t fair. They also allow opportunities for students who are interested in broadcast to cover athletics and those students are also denied the opportunity to cover the post-season events.”

Holaday confirmed that KSHSAA’s agreement with NFHS does not apply to radio broadcasts, only video streaming. Many of the media group supporting the bill are radio stations in middle and western Kansas, which are actually unaffected for their radio broadcasts.

Overall, the result would be that the group of Kansas media pushing the bill would receive additional sponsorship revenue for their radio stations with the state title games in football, or in taking away regular season game revenue against current school’s current policies. The break of the KSHSAA-NFHS agreement – which legally would be a challenge in itself – would result in numerous sports to go uncovered while taking away revenue and the purpose of schools using NFHS-furnished equipment.

The bill remains in committee for now, and if advances, would be voted upon by the Kansas Senate and Kansas House of Representatives before reaching Governor Laura Kelly’s approval for finality.

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