This is unbelievable but true - a blogger had to leave the stadium because he was posting live updates of the NCAA baseball tournament game on his newspaper's website. Even his press credentials were revoked for the crime of "blogging."
The argument was that live reporting of a "game in progress" violated the broadcasting rights which were sold exclusively to ESPN and CBS.
The NCAA says bloggers can write about the game before it starts or after it's over. In between, they can blog about "the atmosphere, crowd and other details," but not about the game itself.
What's the next restriction for such college sporting events ? No carrying cameras or cellphones inside the stadium. No calling friends from the stadium for giving ball-by-ball updates. Wonder if the sporting associations can control the dozen mediums through which information can flow out of the stadium in real-time.
"If I buy a ticket to a game and my brother calls my cell phone and asks what the score is, should I tell him that it would infringe on the NCAA's rights? "
Source: Chicago Tribune [behind registration firewall]