IMG, according to its website, is a global leader in sports, fashion and media.
I do not have a concern about its claim of being a global leader in sports. They can take that up with ESPN.
Those of you who know me also can attest that fashion is not much of a worry.
However, admitting that it is a leader in media is a different matter because it is now competing - unfairly, I might add - with traditional mainstream media.
A few years ago in a once in-a-lifetime meeting with Arkansas Chancellor G. David Gearhart and Vice Chancellor/Athletic Director Jeff Long, I was assured that the school’s website would never compete with the mainstream media.
Not too long after that meeting the university signed a multimillion dollar deal with a company, giving it the right to market the school’s brand. That included RazorVision on their website.
That company later sold to IMG.
IMG works from offices on campus in state-owned buildings on state-owned land at a university that receives millions of tax dollars.
Now, for the first time, IMG is offering exclusive video from Razorbacks football practices and is bragging about it on the university’s website.
No, it is not earthshaking exclusive video, but it puts the University of Arkansas, through IMG, in the position of competing with media that traditionally cover Razorbacks sports.
How does this affect the fans?
Maybe not a lot in the beginning, but in the long run it could mean fans will only get the news that the UA wants them to have, and that could be a very dangerous situation for the fans and taxpayers who are the backbone of the Razorbacks program.
It took Long to put together a game plan to build a new football facility, but it took the fans’ money to build it.
The UA already has tried to fight a Freedom of Information request from this paper, and when it was forced to hand over documents it was discovered that one department was more than $3 million over budget.
You did not see that story on RazorVision.
Traditional media have long been the watchdog of the people.
Last Saturday Nate Allen had a column in this paper about the media being locked out of a Razorback Club meeting in Jonesboro when Mike Anderson was speaking. That action was surprising, even though Razorback Clubs do operate as private entities. Anderson is an elegant speaker and media savvy.
The column went on to report about the exclusive reporting that started the first day of fall practices.
During media day Allen’s column and the actions of UA/IMG were talked about as much as Coach Bret Bielema’s news conference.
Not one radio station, not one TV station and not one newspaper is happy that the UA has locked them out of practices and has restricted access to players and coaches while giving IMG free rein. Then boasts of it on its website.
The University of Arkansas is a state institution with the same rules and regulations as any other institution.Would you want all the news out of the governor’s office to come from his website?
The Arkansas Razorbacks athletic programs belong to the people of Arkansas, and while no doubt some of those people would be happy with a steady diet of pablum, most of the Razorbacks Nation is intelligent enough to want the truth.
Maybe it is all IMG, but the truth is it feels like the University of Arkansas has become not only the story but the storyteller, and that’s not the role of the state’s largest academic institution.
Sports, Pages 17 on 08/15/2013