MEDIA RELATIONS CONTACT
Jeff Cluff, Assistant Director
Email: jeffcluff@uhsaa.org
Office Phone: (801) 566-0681
Cell Phone: (435) 619-7524
Utah High School Activities Association Media Policies
The UHSAA is very thankful for all the coverage media outlets across the state give the de- serving student-athletes, coaches, administrators, schools and communities. The following policies will give guidance to those outlets and individuals who take the time for these endeavors.
This is high school — not the college or professional ranks. And these are teenagers who mostly play the sport for fun as less than 4% of high school athletes compete at the next level. The benefits of playing in the high school realm focuses on teamwork, skill building, participating as an extension of the classroom, and students enjoying the sports they love with friends. These are the tenets of education-based athletics. The UHSAA cares as much about the last player off the bench as it does the team’s five-star prospect.
As a member of the media you are expected to be professional at all times and follow local rules. While the UHSAA governs championships across the state, the athletic director at each school is ultimately the person in charge of all aspects of their programs. Their rules, as well as the UHSAA’s must be adhered to at all times.
You, as members of the media, are at UHSAA events to cover them from a non-biased point of view. Wearing school colors and logos, cheering, and criticism of game play and officials is not tolerated and not allowed in postseason venues. In addition to the student-athletes not participating in a professional setting, neither are the officials, many of whom only handle high school competitions.
The UHSAA is available year-round to aid in the media’s ability to provide top-tier quality coverage of these outstanding athletes and programs.
NOTE: Rights to the regular season belong to the member schools. All rights to the postseason belong to the UHSAA and its partners.
REGULAR SEASON BROADCASTING
Rights for radio broadcasts, telecasts, and internet broadcasts for regular season contests in all sports are held by the home/host school. Outlets wishing to broadcast, telecast, or webcast a regular season contest should contact the athletic director or athletic department designee of the home/host school to secure rights and make arrangements with them.
Member schools may refuse an outlet’s request to radio broadcast, telecast, or internet broadcast of a regular season contest.
POSTSEASON BROADCASTING
The outlet shall agree to hold the UHSAA and its member schools harmless because of any injury to person or property on the premises. The outlet shall further agree to assume all responsibility for any damages which are a direct result of the activities of the broadcast. The outlet shall also agree to defend all claims made against the UHSAA or its member schools for damages caused by the outlet of any nature.
Authorized working personnel employed by an outlet which has been approved to broadcast an UHSAA postseason contest will be admitted to the facility without charge upon presentation of proper identification and UHSAA approved media rights. Host school/sites must notify the UHSAA seven (7) days before the start of postseason play if they have banned any broadcasting outlets from their campus or venue.
An outlet wishing to broadcast a contest in the UHSAA postseason must request and be granted rights by the UHSAA prior to originating or accepting feed of such a radio broadcast, telecast, or internet broadcast per the guidelines specified on the UHSAA Media Rights Agreement online submission form.
The UHSAA postseason begins with divisional/sectional tournaments in “Individual” sports and the first round listed on a “State Championship” bracket in “team” sports. Region tournaments and Conference Play-In Tournaments are considered part of the regular season and are subject to the terms listed in Article 1.
The UHSAA reserves the right to grant exclusive rights to broadcasts for UHSAA postseason events to network providers.
The use of footage by an outlet granted broadcast rights is limited to complete playback of the con- test(s) for which it was approved, or for the use of excerpts for regularly scheduled newscasts. Any other use of the verbal description and/or video account of the contest(s) must be approved in writing by the UHSAA.
The outlet must not sell, loan or give away any part of the footage shot, and must use it only for the purpose set forth above unless permission for its use otherwise is granted in writing by the UHSAA.
The UHSAA has the right to deny any outlet from radio broadcasting, telecasting, or internet broadcasting a postseason contest without cause, except when otherwise stated in agreements between the UHSAA and official media partners.
The UHSAA will not grant blanket broadcast rights to an outlet which intends to follow a school, until it is eliminated, through each level of an UHSAA postseason tournament.
The host school/site should cooperate with news media representatives in providing them access to a work area following a contest to aid in filing reports. The head coach of each competing team is encouraged to cooperate with the news media by participating in interviews as quickly as possible following the conclusion of the contest and providing contest statistics/results if available. Participation by athletes in interviews is voluntary and at the discretion of the head coach.
At neutral site/postseason contests operated by the UHSAA, areas for interviews will be provided by UHSAA staff. Statistics/results will be provided by the UHSAA, if applicable. Media accommodations shall be established in the agreement between the UHSAA and the host organization.
Media representatives cannot enter the area of competition, and no interviews can take place during the awards ceremony or any other official action following a state championship contest
CREDENTIALS
NOTE: All references to “credentials” in this section only apply to UHSAA media credentials. CLICK HERE FOR FORM
The following internet sites will not be granted credentials: A) Social media platforms; B) Sites in which the majority of the content is personal in nature (such as a diary, blog, fan-based, etc.) rather than edited news content; C) Internet sites associated with alcohol, tobacco, drugs of any kind, gambling of any kind, political parties or candidates, or any other advertising considered in poor taste or not in compliance with the mission of interscholastic athletics as determined by the UHSAA; D) Sites developed solely to list/profile/rank recruiting prospects or teams and/or to provide chat rooms/forums/blogs; E) Sites that charge for content in whole or for a percentage of it. The UHSAA reserves the right to determine if a website falls into the category of a recruiting site or how much content would need to be free for consumers.
Internet sites desiring media credentials must have a demonstrated record of regular, sustained coverage of high school sports, which should include (but is not limited to): A) Publishing game stories and game statistics in a timely basis about individual contests; B) Publishing scores on game days; C) Streaming audio, video or other content on a real-time basis of contests; D) Publishing feature stories about high school sports teams, coaches and student-athletes.
Reasons for a denied credential application include, but are not limited to, lack of sustained coverage of high school sports, lack of sufficient bona fide news content, lack of editorial oversight, or an emphasis on recruiting.
An outlet must make sure all members of the crew are properly credentialed by the UHSAA. It is recommended that credentials be worn and visible at regular season events and are required at postseason events.
Schools/host sites have the right to deny any non-credentialed media entity for a regular sea- son contest and are required to deny any non-credentialed media entity for a postseason contest
The UHSAA recommends schools/host sites allow entry to any properly credential media entity for a regular season contest and are required to allow entry to any properly credentialed media entity for a postseason contest.
A media outlet granted the opportunity to receive credentials for its staff members, freelancers and stringers must assure all said individuals are lawful to work in the state of Utah and in proximity of schools and students. Failure to make this assurance will result in the immediate revocation of the outlet’s credentials.
ACCESS TO COMPETITION AREA
Media representatives are not permitted in the competition area at any time until the event has concluded and winners have been determined. Competition area includes, but is not limited to, the field of play, playing court, team boxes, benches and huddles, dugouts, etc. Additional post-event restrictions may apply at the determination of the UHSAA.
ACCESS TO LOCKER/DRESSING ROOMS
The UHSAA operates under a closed locker room policy at all events. At no time will media representatives be granted this access without written permission on official letterhead from the principal at the affected school(s) no later than three (3) days before the event. Warm-up and team meeting areas are considered ex- tensions of locker/dressing rooms.
ACCESS TO OFFICIALS
Media representatives are not permitted to contact contest officials at any time during a regular season or UHSAA postseason event. This includes locker room/dressing areas, within the area of play, any area in which the official must pass, or after the event as the officials are leaving. Access to contest officials is only granted after approval by the UHSAA and may not take place during an event.
STATISTICS
Coaches are instructed to input statistics into MaxPreps. Media members can request coaches send game results/stats via MaxPreps send stats feature. Official records (typically top-10 performances) may be submitted for review to the UHSAA Records Book using the appropriate form on the Records page.