Question about selling sport photos

[gll]

I was recently ask by a few players or parents of player to shoot an alumni football game, I told them to get a name of who I need to talk with to get permission, one came back and said its all ok just go shoot, now I know that's a weak ok but its a small town and seemed like no big deal,I know I should have ask for a name and verified that's not my question, I shot the first halve and rain was falling I went home popped em in LR3 web template and uploaded with a paypal checkout, emailed a few parents that had ask me to shoot, and 3 weeks later no sales, No surprise! I get an email from an angry promoter telling me he had an authorized photographer and wanted to know who told me I could shoot and sell, I removed images and emailed what I had done and without names who told me its ok, assured him I did not sell anything so he lost nothing and to let me know next year we could work with him to try again, received an much nicer email with apology for being so hasty. Ok so my question is in a City/school stadium shooting a game after buying a ticket standing nearly on the field in plain view and no one says a word? Could I sell these to the players? just curious.

[KdLaneJr]

If I want to shoot an event like that I contact the Athletic Director and go from there. Same for everything I do covering sports at the local High Schools.

You've said some interesting things, such as "small town", "promoter" and "authorized photographer". I wouldn't be inclined to take the promoters word for it. Dig deeper. The Booster Club should have a clue who sets up the Alumni game and whether or not a contract was in place for exclusive photography via a promoter.

[tshea]

Hi GLL,

You can sell to high school players photos to individuals. College you better get the sports Information Director approval. Agencies like Getty and AP, pay the NCAA lots of money so they can liscence their images. I shoot for Icon and Getty and part of my cut comes right out to pay the NCAA their royalties. You may not sell images of pro players without the consent of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL or MLS. If you get caught doing this you will never get credentials again. When you see a print of a NCAA or professional athlete for sale in an art store or sports store you will see a sticker on it that says official photo liscence by the league. Hope that helps.

Thomas

[John Godwin]

Originally Posted by gll

Ok so my question is in a City/school stadium shooting a game after buying a ticket standing nearly on the field in plain view and no one says a word? Could I sell these to the players? just curious.

Probably not without the risk of a lawsuit. The promoter has the right to prohibit photos being taken and sold at/from an event. The stadium was not a public place. You bought a ticket to get in! Granted it looks like a better job could have been done to prohibit photos from being taken it still does not give you the right to take and then sell those you took just because they did not physically stop you while the photos were being taken.

[gll]

Originally Posted by John Godwin

Probably not without the risk of a lawsuit. The promoter has the right to prohibit photos being taken and sold at/from an event. The stadium was not a public place. You bought a ticket to get in! Granted it looks like a better job could have been done to prohibit photos from being taken it still does not give you the right to take and then sell those you took just because they did not physically stop you while the photos were being taken.

Thanks John
I guess I need to understand what a public place is?

[LSCSN.com]

Actually that is not entirely true. You have the "right" to sell the photos to the individuals that contacted you, because they are under no contractual obligation to the promoter and/or "official" photographer.

Now just because you have the "right" to sell them photos doesn't make it "right" and/or without its own set of headaches :-).

So with what you have laid out I think you made the best choice.

By the way I am not a lawyer. I have not played a lawyer on TV, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night. So please do not take what I have said as legal counsel :-).

That being said I have had to deal with this issue before and that is the word that I got from some legal counsel.

So unless the promoter/photographer has some sort of contractual language on their ticket or make the people sign some sort of form they do not have any contractual obligation. And if you bought a ticket to the event neither do you unless there is contractual language tied to that ticket. But in the end they also have every right to take you to court if they want to, which makes EVERYONE involved in the situation lose, including the taxpayers. Only winners would be the lawyers :-(.

[LSCSN.com]

By the way COMPLETELY off topic. I just noticed your tag line. Really like it :-). I can relate!!!

[gll]

Thanks Jason
I am sure its not worth the hassle , although they did come back and say its ok, I just figure I will run into this again sometime.
Thanks