Starting with a state baseball tournament last month at Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa state high school sports entered a new era of television coverage. The change is due to a 10-year $975,000 deal struck by the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union for statewide coverage of the 10 sports that make up each, for a total of 20.
The two groups stand to earn even more through a profit-sharing agreement. Both will receive $75,000 this year plus a $5,000 increase each subsequent year of the deal. Baseball is one of the sports to be shown on Iowa Public Television, with the rest shown on a seven-station network in the form of live or highlight coverage.
The baseball tournament in July began a 10-year partnership between the IHSAA and IGHSAU and Urbandale-based Krogman and Associates for some form of coverage of the championships of all 10 sports in each group on the Iowa High School Sports Network.
Boys’ basketball will not be covered this winter as it’s in the last year of a previously inked deal with Thompson Sports of Des Moines.
Iowa Public Television recently showed the first live sporting event on its digital network, and later replayed the games on tape over their regular channels for non-digital customers.
The IHSAA and IGHSAU are also both in sponsorship deals with Farm Bureau, through which the former group receives $165,000 this season in a 5-year incremental deal, while the latter gets $100,000 annually in their second year of a five-year deal.
