BOONE — The Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa High School Sports Network have announced changes to the televised and live-streamed coverage of several boys prep state tournaments.
Beginning this school year the state football finals, boys state basketball finals and state wrestling finals will be broadcast on six digital cable channels across Iowa. Local viewers who receive KDSM 17.3 will be able to view the events. They will also — along with the semifinals of each tourney — be live-streamed for free at ihssn.com.
The Iowa High School Athletic Association long ago sold broadcast and webcast rights to the boys state football, basketball and wrestling tournaments to the privately owned Iowa High School Sports Network several years ago. The IHSSN reportedly paid the IHSAA $60,000 for the 2015-16 tournaments. Fees paid for other years are not available.
The IHSSN then sold those exclusive rights — for the 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 state tournaments — to Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The media was told this arrangement has not changed the financial situation between the IHSAA and IHSSN.
The move proved wildly unpopular, preventing well over two-thirds of Iowa unable to watch the tournaments. The decision resulted, for example, in the vast majority of Perry residents unable to watch Bluejay senior Zach Stewart win, and junior Kaleb Olejniczak place second, in the state wrestling finals in 2018, although viewers in Terre Haute, Indiana were able to do so.
While the contract was in place the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union happily continued their partnership with Iowa Public Television, with all state softball and girls state basketball finals broadcast to the entire state, with live-streaming swiftly added.
The recent move by the IHSAA and IHSSN now evens the playing the field and will dramatically increase the exposure of the three sports, chiefly football, which has suffered a decrease of over 13 percent in participation numbers statewide since 2011.
