Iowa High School Athletic Association sues over plan to charge streaming fees
IOWA — The Iowa High School Athletic Association is taking its broadcast partner to court, alleging that the Iowa High School Sports Network is violating their deal with its plan to charge a fee to stream certain championship games online.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Polk County, IHSAA is asking the court to stop IHSSN from charging fees for online streaming beginning with next month’s Iowa high school baseball championships and to clarify a dispute about an alleged contract extension between the two sides.
On Monday, IHSSN announced the creation of a ‘new streaming platform’. Under the model, fans would now pay a fee to watch individual games or matches or an entire championship via streaming. Games would still be broadcast without a fee on television statewide.
In their lawsuit, IHSAA claims that the pay-per-view model violates the basics of the contract between the two that provides for free broadcast of championship games – with no mention of streaming or fees. IHSAA is asking the court to stop IHSSN from charging fees before they can even begin.
Separately in the lawsuit, the IHSAA asks the court to settle a disagreement on the intent of the language in a document to which both sides had agreed. In 2014, the two sides agreed to a five-year contract extension to broadcast high school championship events, with an option for an additional five-year renewal in 2019. Then, one year later the two sides apparently agreed to another extension of their contract through 2029.
However, IHSAA now claims that the document signed in 2015 is not an actual contract and they cannot be held to its terms. Among the arguments they make in the lawsuit is that the ‘purported extension’ did not include any guarantees of escalating payments to IHSAA. Attorneys for IHSAA say there is no way they would’ve agreed to a contract that awarded them a stagnant pay scale through 2029.
Rights fees paid to IHSAA by year
2014-2015 $60,000 2015-2016 $60,000 2016-2017 $65,000 2017-2018 $70,000 2018-2019 $75,000 2019-2020 $80,000 2020-2021 $80,000 2021-2022 $80,000 2022-2023 $80,000 2023-2024 $80,000 Source: IHSAA lawsuit petition
IHSAA is asking the court to rule on the dispute on when the contract between the two sides expires.
The IHSAA released this statement after the filing of the lawsuit:
The Iowa High School Sports Network (IHSSN) is the current media rights holder for select IHSAA championship events. IHSSN has recently announced it has adopted a new model that would charge the public to watch certain live events. IHSSN plans to begin charging for live streaming with the 2023 IHSAA State Baseball Tournament in July. The network has previously provided the public with free access to championship events via television and other formats. IHSAA has objected to the IHSSN’s plans to charge the public and earlier today filed a Petition for Declaratory Relief in Polk County District Court seeking, among other things, a declaration from the court as to the rights of the parties with respect to charging fees to the public under the relevant media rights agreement. Moving forward, IHSAA will continue to strive for free public access to broadcasts of its championship events.
WHO 13 has reached out to the Iowa High School Sports Network for a comment on the lawsuit.
Source: WHO TV 13 Des Moines News & Weather
