By Staff
From staff reports
MONTGOMERY – The Alabama High School Athletic Association has signed a five-year corporate partner agreement with al.com, The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times and Mobile's Press-Register, according to a joint announcement earlier this month by the organizations.
"We are pleased to be working hand in hand with al.com and these newspapers," said Steve Savarese, AHSAA executive director. "We have the same goal at heart – to support the student athletes – and will work together toward that mission."
The agreement includes four main areas: endorsement of al.com's Web site for high school sports statistics, online streaming of events, focus on sportsmanship and co-marketing.
"We are proud to work with the AHSAA and our newspapers under this important agreement and look forward to expanding our online offerings for high school sports in Alabama," said Cindy Martin, al.com chief executive officer/president. "People here care about sports and we want to emphasize the importance of strong sportsmanship."
Under this agreement, the AHSAA endorses al.com and the newspapers as the source for high school sports statistics. The stie offers every Alabama high school the ability to publish team stats online. Coaches and team statisticians can easily post their team stats directly to the site, and then the stats can then be utilized by the three newspapers for publication. To date more than 6,300 student athletes are listed in the online database.
The site's high school page features the state's most comprehensive high school sports coverage online. This includes live Friday night football scores, team schedules, rosters, standings and stats as well as individual player biographies. Visitor interaction is available on the site through the posting of photos on team and player pages in addition to joining ongoing discussions in the high school forums.
Now al.com and the newspapers, as the exclusive media sponsors of all AHSAA championship events, will hold the exclusive online streaming rights to these events and will make live and archived game video available online at no cost. The first games planned for streaming are the Elite Eight volleyball state championship at the end of October and the Super Six football event in December.
In the area on sportsmanship, the AHSAA will write and update a blog on al.com that focuses on the education of the subject. Monthly statewide awards to students or coaches excelling in sportsmanship will be promoted on al.com. Scholarships based on criteria that include sportsmanship will also be granted during the year.
-From staff reports