Research presented at 2009 North American Society for Sport Management conference, Columbia, SC. Sport organization policies on issuing credentials to blogs.

1. Stephen W. Dittmore, University of Arkansas
G. Clayton Stoldt, Wichita State University
Jordan R. Bass, Wichita State University
Laura Biery, Wichita State University

2.  Blogs are “diary-style websites that generally
offer observations and news listed
chronologically on the site as well as
commentary and recommended links”
(Johnson & Kaye, 2004, p. 622)
 “Nothing more than a personal web site with
content displayed in reverse-chronological
order” (Scoble & Israel, 2006, p. 26)

3.  Grossman (2004) pointed out a philosophical
aspect of blogs is the presence of a unique,
human voice that communicates a point of
view
 Ganim Barnes (2006) noted blogs are a
personal conversation in which readers form
relationships with bloggers and communities
are formed
 Bloggers are occasionally called “citizen” or
“grassroots” journalists

4.  Sports Business Journal identified “the power
of the blogger” as one of the Top 10 stories in
2006, calling it “the biggest story in media
and marketing, not just in sports” (“Stories of
the Year”, 2006, p. 11)

5.  NCAA v. Louisville Courier-
Journal (2007)
 Dallas Mavericks v. Dallas
Morning-News (2008)
 Edmonton Oilers v. Illustration from si.com
Covered in Oil (2008)

6.  “A credential is a pass that allows the bearer
access into the facility without paying for a
ticket. An additional expectation of credential
holders is that they have access to areas of the
facility that the ticket-buying public does not.”
(Stoldt, Dittmore, & Branvold, 2006, p. 88)
 If they have not done so already, sport
organizations are going to have to develop a
policy for credentialing bloggers (Dittmore in
Sports Business Journal, 2006).

7.  Why do it?
 Fan identification
 Missing out on a form of
communication and target market
 Considerations:
 Number of unique visitors the blog
has over a given period of time
 Amount of original content
produced by the blog
 History of covering industry
 Press box space restrictions
 Media rights issues

8.  Washington Capitals issued
credentials to bloggers as early
as 2006
 2007-08 season: New York
Islanders not only issued
credentials to bloggers, but also
provided them with their own NYI Blog Box image from Sports Business
Journal/Bruce Bennett, Getty Images
dedicated space (i.e., the Blog
Box)
 08-09 season featured 18 bloggers

9.  NBA
 “We do not have a formal policy on blogs, just that we
keep our eyes open to everything.” – Brian McIntyre,
senior vice president of communications (personal
communication, Nov. 14, 2006)
 NCAA
 “At this point it would be hard to define them
(bloggers) as media. And personally, I don’t see how
they can be.” – Mark Bedics, oversees media
coordination for NCAA Championships (quoted in
Sports Business Journal, June 19, 2006)

10.  Purpose of the present study was to analyze
sport organizational policies relating to
bloggers and blogging
 RQ1: What types of policies exist pertaining to
providing event credentials for bloggers?
 RQ2: What types of restrictions do the policies
place on credentialed bloggers?

11.  Two-question request submitted to media
relations unit in varied sport organizations
 Policy regarding credentials for bloggers?
 Policy regarding restrictions on credentialed
bloggers?
 Follow-up phone calls as necessary
 Some typed responses in e-mail replies,
others attached files with policies

12.  Convenience sample of:
 9 leagues, conferences and governing bodies
 21 professional organizations
▪ 3 NFL
▪ 2 NBA
▪ 15 MLB
▪ 1 Motor Speedway
 48 NCAA institutions
▪ 32 FBS
▪ 8 FCS
▪ 8 Division I

13. Category Follow League Case by Case Credible No Policy
or Conference Basis Organizations
Policy Only
Leagues and n/a 3 3 2
Conferences
(n = 9)
Professional 9 6 5 1
Organizations
(n = 21)
NCAA (n = 48)* 0 14 21 9
Notes:
Case by Case includes organizations which will give independent bloggers credentials
Credible includes organizations which do not give independent bloggers credentials
No Policy includes organizations who stated no policy exists
* - 4 institutions either did not address the question of bloggers directly or stated they do
not credential bloggers at all

14.  MLB team = MLB policy; allow for case by case
basis; must be credible
 Division I school = our media coverage never was
extensive because of our market, we’re happy
anyone cares to talk about us
 FCS school = we do not have a blogging policy; have
not had a need for one to date
 BCS conference = “all credential requests from
internet providers may be approved on a space
available basis by the host institution”

15.  Accept independent blogs with the following
stipulations:
 Blog must provide certified and audited statistics,
including average number of unique visitors by
month
 Percentage of original content v. non-original
content
 Official auditing body, if one exists
 Number of employed full-time journalists
 Blog agrees to adhere to IOC Blogging Guidelines

16.  USOC issued 434 credentials to media organizations
for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver
 36 to organizations with direct .com affiliations
 ESPN The Magazine/ESPN.com (15); Foxsports.com (2);
icenetwork.com (1); NHL.com (2); voiceofamerica.com (1);
Yahoo! Sports (15)
 All accredited organizations must follow IOC Blogging
Guidelines

17.  Consistent with IOC, IPC considers blogging
“as a legitimate form of personal expression
and not as a form of journalism”
 Bloggers restricted to producing content
about their own personal experiences
 Prohibitions
 Sound, photographs or moving images
 Limited the use of Paralympic marks
 Use of advertising or sponsorships

18.  # of updates
 Use of statistical information
 # of photographs
 Video / audio
 Source information
 Strategic intel

19.  Perceptions vary regarding the legitimacy of
bloggers and their value to the sport
organization
 Many organizations have yet to formalize
blogging policies
 Protecting the interests of rights holders
often a key part of blogging policies
 Some concern regarding how bloggers will
present the sport organization

20.  Larger, BCS-type schools more often only
credential bloggers from “credible” or
“legitimate” media outlets
 Smaller, non-BCS-type schools more often
evaluate requests on a case by case basis

21.  Los Angeles Dodgers have
held two annual “Blogger
Nights” in which they host
several bloggers in a suite
and give them access to
Dodger personnel
 May 6, 2009 included 14
bloggers
Dodgers executives Josh Rawitch, VP
of Communications, and Ned Colletti,
General Manager.
From sonsofstevegarvey.com

22. dittmore@uark.edu
clay.stoldt@wichita.edu