Recently, the Minnesota State High School League has increased its limitations and rules regarding media coverage at high school sporting events, especially at state tournaments. MSHSL has come out multiple times saying that these rules have always been in place, yet the enforcement of these rules hasn’t been prevalent until this year, making them seem new. This leads to the question of why now?
This rule first started becoming a big shock when the Dance Team Section tournaments were taking place. Team photographers were told the night before the event that they would no longer be allowed to take any photographs of the dancers, only video. Better yet, they had to sit in one chair off to the side, and the video clip needed to be one consistent shot, under 2 minutes in length. Not only was it such short notice, but dance teams often pay their team photographers in advance, ultimately not allowing them to get what they paid for.
We saw this similarly arise during the Wrestling State tournament when photographers found out with little to no notice that the enforcement of this rule would be put into place. They were no longer able to take the photos they had planned because of the limited freedom they were given. For both Wrestling and Dance Team, MSHSL told fans and teams to not worry, as they would have a photographer on site, whom you would be allowed to purchase photos from. What they didn’t tell those people though is the quality and price these photos would end up being.
Teams often have a photographer who they hire because they like their style and the photographer knows their team. For Dance Team specifically, this helps them know what is going to happen during the routine, allowing them to get the best moments. MSHSL did not provide adequate photos for the limitations they imposed.
When this “new” rule was brought to the attention of the news, MSHSL had little response to the question of “why,” and continued to only state the rule had always been in place, just never enforced. Media teams and photographers had to go through an extensive process to be able to get valid credentials to even be able to get close to the athletes, some not getting approved at all and some even being kicked out of the tournament for “invalid” credentials, even though MSHSL gave them out that morning. So not only did MSHSL change the rules with such short notice, they made it difficult to even follow the rules in the first place.
This rule also started to affect the live stream coverage people were allowed to have at post-season games because they are MSHSL sponsored events. An example of this is a St. Thomas Academy section hockey game, where the same media team had been covering their games for years, and were no longer allowed because they weren’t MSHSL approved.
This has not only hurt many photographers but more the athletes themselves. Section and state games not only have more meaning because you are one step closer to a championship title but also some of the seniors on these teams will never play that sport again. In the past, individually hired photographers have been able to capture these moments and give them back to their teams. This year wasn’t the same, but photographers tried their best. Unfortunately, MSHSL photographers often didn’t capture these special moments.
Even though months have passed since some of these events, people are still trying to figure out how these new rules will impact the upcoming season. Photographers are trying to get a clear understanding before the start of the season so they will know what, when, and how they will be able to cover MSHSL sponsored sporting events, hopefully, to save time, money, and confusion.