Two weeks ago, a sports reporter in Louisville, Ky., was expelled from a press box for live blogging during a U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association baseball game.
In the view of the NCAA, The Courier-Journal reporter's blog, in which updates were posted during the game, represented competition to ESPN's telecast, even though the sports cable channel didn't complain.
Asked about their positions on live blogging, the four major sports leagues found it difficult to get as excited about the issue as the NCAA.
In fact, the pros are more inclined to ridicule the decision to oust the reporter than support it.
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"There were two guys blogging at our championship game," a pro league executive said. "We had to take them outside and shoot them."
Chris Botta, the vice-president of communications for the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, noted that coverage on any platform is generally a good thing for a team or league.
"In this day and age, there are so many ways to get the score of the game," he said. "On the Internet, satellite. I would hope nobody would overreact the way the NCAA did."
The Islanders encourage live blogging. Next season, it will set aside space in the press box for bloggers to work.
The NCAA's crackdown is based on the argument that live coverage is the domain of media companies that have paid money for the rights.
In the view of the NCAA, newspapers represent competition to the broadcasters because, in the digital age, they have moved from providing next-day coverage to immediate online postings.
The National Football League and Major League Baseball have established policies that impose some restrictions to live blogs. Real-time play-by-play - a detailed, written description of every play made in a game - is not allowed. And newspapers are limited to the number of photographs they can display during an event.
This summer, the NHL and National Basketball Association plan to formulate their own policies for bloggers.
Frank Brown, the vice-president of media relations for the NHL, said the league wants to set boundaries without inhibiting coverage.
"We are incredibly respectful of the voraciousness with which the digital consumers participate in NHL dialogue," he said. "At the same time, we have to be equally protective of entities that are entitled to protection. You have to serve several masters."
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy calls it a balancing act.
"We carefully craft our policies recognizing the success of the NFL is due in part to substantial news media coverage," he said.
"At the same time, we know we have to protect our rights and those rights we extend to broadcast partners who collectively pay billions of dollars to show these games."
Some speculate that blogging rights will eventually become revenue sources for the leagues.
However, if a U.S. newspaper did pay money to become a league or club's exclusive blogging rights holder, questions would most certainly be raised about objectivity and editorial independence.
And how would blogging exclusivity be enforced? Who's to stop anybody unaffiliated with a media company from posting updates and commentary?
The notion of sports leagues licensing print content strikes John Fleischaker, the lawyer for The Courier-Journal in the NCAA dispute, as a move to control the message.
"What's to stop the NCAA from saying, before we give you a press credential, you have to agree to show us your story before you publish it?" he asked.
The Courier-Journal has not taken legal action against the NCAA, but Fleischaker said the issue needs resolution.
"I'm hard pressed to believe the NCAA has really thought this through," he said. "I think they run a risk - I hope they run a risk that the media finally say we're not going to do it, we're not going to cover the games."
Jays on CBC
The CBC's Toronto Blue Jays coverage got off to a good start over the weekend with the back-to-back telecasts involving the Colorado Rockies.
Signing Jim Hughson to call the games is a big plus for the network. He's among the best play-by-play announcers and it certainly didn't seem like 13 years had passed since he had called a Jays game. Rance Mulliniks, an established game analyst, was fine. The second game analyst, newcomer Jesse Barfield, needs to say less.
Rating the weekend
| EVENT | NETWORK | VIEWERS | SKINNY |
| Friday | |||
| Hockey. NHL entry draft | TSN | 442,000 | Down 18 per cent from last year's show. |
| Baseball. Rockies-Jays | Sportsnet | 329,000 | Good audience, but hockey wins the night. |
| Saturday | |||
| Soccer. Under-21 championship | TSN | 64,000 | Small interest in Serbia-Netherlands game. |
| Baseball. Rockies-Jays | CBC | 269,000 | CBC Jays debut draws below Sportsnet's |
| 275,000 average. | |||
| Equestrian. Championship | |||
| show jumping | CBC | 55,000 | About right for Spruce Meadows events. |
| Volleyball. Canada-Brazil | CBC | 99,000 | Surprisingly good for niche sport. |
| Auto racing. AT&T 250 | TSN | 83,000 | Below average for Busch Series. |
| Soccer. Toronto-New England | Sportsnet | 85,000 | TFC's poor performance hurts audience. |
| Sunday | |||
| Baseball. Rockies-Jays | CBC | 373,000 | Good turnout for Dustin McGowan's one-hitter. |
| Horse racing. Queen's Plate | TSN | 109,000 | Great race, but mediocre audience. |
| Auto racing. Toyota/ | |||
| Save Mart 350 | TSN | 262,000 | On a par with Nextel numbers. |
| Baseball. Tigers-Braves | Sportsnet | 129,000 | Larger than usual for Sunday night game. |
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