Browns Deny Access to Internet Media

Unfortunately, this is becoming more common as the monoliths of professional sports fail to join the 21st Century. The paranoia over the internet by sports is becoming comical.

From the SportingNews.com:

Web Warriors and the Cleveland Browns:

The Internet is a growth industry, as everyone is well aware. The Cleveland Browns have decided to block two Cleveland-based Internet media sites from covering the team's home games. The team said it would not issue home-game credentials to Cleveland Live and NewsNet 5, both of which covered the team extensively last year. That according to a report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The Internet sites have the option of covering the team's practices and press conferences, but that's as far as the team will go. "We still want to have a working relationship, but based on the dynamics of the industry in 2000, we won't credential them for home games," Todd Stewart, Browns director of media relations said.

Cleveland Live President Eliza Wing said she wanted to cover the team, not compete with it. "I don't feel we're in competition. My feeling is that, as they should, they are looking to create their own site and they may be considering other dot-coms as competitive, but we are a media site."

Robert DeBardardine, a Dallas lawyer who specializes in Internet law, criticized the Browns' approach to Internet media, offering this comment in the Plain Dealer report: "Given the reach of the Internet, both nationally and internationally, it seems to me that the NFL should be working hard to develop a strong relationship with Internet media companies as opposed to alienating them," he said. "In the long run, it can have a detrimental effect on the franchise."

Cleveland intellectual property rights lawyer Raymond Rundelli believes the team may be doing nothing more than protecting what is theirs. "Teams don't want [live Internet media coverage] because they have their own competing services, or the networks might have their own Web sites that intermingle," Rundelli said. "It's a matter of protecting the rights you've given to someone else or plan to exploit yourself."

The NFL established a set of rules last year governing what can and can't be done by Internet sites covering games. Chief among them was that they could not provide real-time play-by-play updates. Less detailed updates can be provided live, such as scoring summaries. Greg Aiello said play-by-play could be posted on media Web sites after the game.

"We're producing an entertainment event to which we own the rights," Aiello said. "That does not prevent them from covering the game as long as they don't broadcast live. They have to follow some rules, such as they can't provide live play-by-play of the game. We own those rights, and ESPN is our partner in producing and managing those sites."

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