NCAA credentialing

Our local university enforces this policy as well, though we have to have plain cups. Not sure why, but I know that at the concessions stands, they don't let the people take bottles because they're afraid people are going to take the bottle caps and throw them on the court. First of all, if anyone on press row was ever caught throwing a bottle cap on the court in protest, I would hope that like any other fan, he'd be escorted out of the arena and never let back in.

But the most annoying thing about the bottle caps is that I'd like to have something to prevent the rare case when stuff comes flying. I had a nasty sickness midway through the season and needed to keep going to the back every timeout to chug a bottle of water because I wasn't letting that thing anywhere near my laptop.

 

I have served as the media director for several NCAA Tournament events (men's and women's) at several schools and it is indeed an interesting event to host.

The cup thing, though it seems trivial, is actually well thought out by the NCAA and if yo understand the reasoning, makes a lot of sense. The NCAA does many things at a tourney site to brand the games and some of these things is what makes the games stand out.

Credentialing is very interesting. I'm not a big fan of the new online system, but it seems to work.

When I served as the media host, I had the discretion to credential or not credential local media based on the 90% rule. The one time I worked a men's first and second round site, it was in a media market that really didn't give my school the time of day. When we hosted, I would hear from media members for the first time all year -- people who wouldn't return my calls and emails the months before.

I had a big decision to make in credentialing. Do I give the outlet the credential even though they really didn't staff my games (90%) or do I say screw you to the outlets and deny them. In the end, I worked with as many of the outlets as possible, even though I desperately wanted to screw them all.

My suggestions if you are denied. Talk to the SID directly. Forget the long email making your case. Call and speak personally with the person and I pretty much guarantee that you'll be taken care of. I've dealt with too many people by email who think that they should be taken care of simply because of who they are (on a side note, ESPN 1310 in River City is not ESPN so stop trying to tell me you are when you call -- you are simply a small town station that airs ESPN programming).

The last time I hosted men's games, you wouldn't believe the number of "media" members who came out of the woodwork expecting a pass who really didn't deserve one. Every Tom, Dick and Mary who had any Journalism-related job thought they deserved access. When I turned one guy down from a minority owned newspaper who didn't staff our games (but did staff area pro events, attending the games to eat the pregame meal and then never actually write a story), I received a call from the local congressman's office in Washington to see why (when I explained that the two other minority owned papers that actually did staff events and report on them were credentialled, the congressman understood and agreed with me).

As for the wireless charge, I notice that is has actually come down this year. Here is my best explanation:

The NCAA hires a company to handle all of the telecommunications at the championship sites. For the men's tourney, they will deal with 14 different arenas each year with the goal of providing the same level of service to everybody. This ends up being a pretty costly deal because as the championship has progressed to bigger and bigger venues (mostly pro buildings), the NCAA runs into higher and higher costs.

The NCAA used to have something like 50 phone lines for working media per men's site but the technological advances have rendered these relatively useless because eerybody files electronically. Heck, the NCAA used to have a working press room set up at each media hotel but those have been eliminated because the media doesn't need these anymore.

In dealing with NCAA Championships lately, I can honestly say that the NCAA doesn't really know what to do with the wireless situations. Some arenas have networks available for nothing. Others insist on charging a ridiculous fee for access. It is hard for the NCAA to come up with one set fee because they are probably dealing with 14 different situations.

Try to remember the good things about the NCAA Championships.

--Press Conferences the day before and immediately after events with open locker rooms (Please don't complain about the timing of the championship game and its relation to deadlines because that is something is TV related).

--Clean work space and access to phone/wireless

--Good courtside seating locations

--Decent media meal and snacks (with beverages)

--Video drops for TV stations of game action and press conferences

--High speed internet access for photographers (they used to have dark rooms set up)

Any way, for all of the bitching about the tourney, I actually believe the NCAA does a good job of hosting these events.


--Media parking or shuttle at big events

 

thanks for your perspective, SID

the courtside seating is huge. and access has always been really good. no complaints there from me.

the wireless thing though bugs me. all these arenas ae already equipped with wireless and it would be easy to just turn on that signal and provide free wireless for everybody instead of having the NCAA hire some company to come in and install some dedicated system that costs $15. it's not the money, it's the fact that this company with just massive revenue goes out of its way to charge for something that they could easily provide for free.

and the no-wireless card rule ... that's just insane. god, i hope they try to enforce it with me one day.

 

And don't forget the transcripts of every word spoken in the press conferences -- a GODSEND if you're forced to be there every day.

And I'm telling you, Cane, you won't get sweated because of a wireless card. I've had one for two years, used it at a number of different sites, and no one's ever said a word to me about it.

*knocking on wood*

 

I will agree completely on the transcripts.
God, I wish we could get those at every arena I go to. They're amazing. A good transcriptionist is worth their weight in gold.

 

So true. That honestly saves about 2-3 hours right there in work per day.

And if nothing else they're fun to read because they even include all the 'you knows.'

 

All for the bargain price of $350. Per computer. And it goes up to an even $1k when the Final Four rolls around.

 

It's been posted here before, but don't shrug off the Limited Access passes. A few years ago, my small-town shop (under 20K) got two of them for a regional (we have a good relationship with one of the host SIDs). They're a great deal - they get you in the building and access to everything but a seat on press row. As others have pointed out - you can almost always find an empty seat to use on the row. Worst case, you're in the front row of seats. And you still have access to the work room, locker rooms and pressers.

 

The one thing that really disturbs me is the NCAA's lack of flexibility and using common sense when it comes to issues such as smaller newspapers without big budgets trying to cover a men's and women's team in different sites halfway across the country.

And what I mean is this -- if you don't sign in at the subregional to pick up your credential -- you can't cover the regional and Final Four rounds....

Here is what I mean --

We had a columnist credentialed for both the mens and womens tournaments -- we sent him to the men's tournament with our beat writer because it was (a) mens team which was our top beat and (b) the ticket to get to where he was going was much cheaper. Well men's team loses in second round -- women's team advances to Sweet 16 -- so we want to send our columnist to the second round with our women's hoops writer.

No can do -- since the columnist didn't pick up his credential at the subregional he couldn't get credentialled for the regional -- which is absurd given that he was covering an NCAA event in a different city.

Those kinds of things remind me that those in academia are usually the ones who lack the most common sense.

I understand there has to be a process, but there also at some point has to be some room for common sense.