SID's in the SEC "are in their biggest battle yet as
far as who can sit in their press boxes" during football
games, as more and more Internet sports sites are applying
for press credentials, according to David Paschall of the
Chattanooga TIMES & FREE PRESS. Univ. of FL SID John
Humenik: "Right now, we're telling Internet sites that it's
difficult to determine who's legitimate and why they are
legitimate. When you issue a credential to an Internet
site, you may be taking it away from somebody who's been
covering you for 30 or 40 years." To help the situation,
the SEC and NCAA are asking the sites to "form a governing
board," similar to the print journalists' Football Writers
Association of America. Humenik: "We are strongly
encouraging cbssportsline.com, espn.com and rivals.com to
get together. When newspapers turned over their information
about circulation and how often they published to the SIDs,
it became easy for us to make decisions as to who covered
our games." Last year, Humenik issued a credential to
SportsLine with the "understanding" that it "could not
report on any live action" (TIMES & FREE PRESS, 6/10).