All-Star Get Our Sport Back: Flocheer And Varsity Video Policy

[BlueCat]

Has the last request from gym owners regarding policies been addressed by Varsity other than a canned "under review" response?

The gym owners' side of things is still a work in progress. There have been some back-and-forth discussions, but no final resolutions.

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

here's what I don't understand, and I'd love for someone with better knowledge on the legalities of this to explain it to me

So FloCheer/VarsityTV records a routine. Their recording of the team is copyrighted, so any reposting of said video will 100% result in a copyright claim (and rightfully so).

Someone records the same routine at the same competition, uploads it to youtube. This video isn't owned by Varsity/Flo. And most times these videos are not being monetized on youtube. UNLESS it's a competition where FloCheer/Varsity prohibit video, how is any of Flo/VTV's actions legal? Varsity clarified the video policy last year saying personal videoing was 100% allowed, they just meant that videoing for commercial use (think Smoed's series) was prohibited.

I honestly believe if Stingrays got copyright claims on their routine videos they could easily dispute them with Youtube. Someone brought up a good point that routines are technically copyrighted in nature, since it is creative work (correct me if I'm wrong). I know choreography can easily be copyrighted. Does competing at these events give unwritten permission to Varsity/Flo to profit off of copyrighted work? Is this written anywhere in registration for events? Can teams opt-out of having their team livestreamed/recorded by Varsity for profit?

I'm just thinking out loud here so please correct me on anything that's wrong. I just don't understand how Flo/Varsity can copyright claim/copystrike Stingray's Youtube when the content of the video is Stringray's creative work.

Regardless of all of that legal crap, it's still outrageous to me that they charge like $30 a MONTH for their content. So ridiculous.

Cheerleading routines cannot be copyrighted. It's incredibly hard to copyright choreography and if you're not about to lose millions of dollars on it, it's not even worth it to try. Heres an informative piece on the nuances of copyrighting choreography (here).

You can really only copyright tangible media, which video is. That's what the copyright is on, the video. Not the content.

I can only find Varsity's 2017-2018 policy for video recording (here - Part G) but nothing for this upcoming year. The term "commercial" in the policy is super vague and not defined. You could argue that an organization recording their team's performances and putting them on youtube for their members is "commercial". You could argue that putting anything on YouTube is "commercial".

I would assume that if Stingrays took video at a competition where Flo was authorized to record, the argument is Flo was the only one authorized to record and distribute the routines and Rays infringed upon that authorization. It has nothing to do with their creative work.

 

[cheermammab]

I just found this on instagram and that nobody here has talked about it yet, so I thought I should post it here. I'm not an expert in this topic or a native speaker so I will post a video that breaks it down:



And also the link to the petition:
Petition Flocheer: Get our sport back Change.org

If anyone knows more about the situation feel free to explain it better.

I’m wondering if they can post them and make them private? So that you can only see them if you have a link and then send said link out to all their teams? Or is there another venue they could use, like Vimeo? I don’t even know if that is around anymore...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ScottyB]

Before anyone demands a boycott or hires any lawyers, we are asking them (Varsity and FloSports) to review the policy.

I asked them to review/rework it last year when it was tentative before competition season.. no budge. I wish you all the luck.

 

[dat.jpp]

Why are we allowing people, who we don't even, tell us we can't record our teams/gyms routines? It's literally a joke and I can't take that serious AT ALL. That's why I don't buy Flocheer, it's only helping them in the long run.

 

[coacha]

please big gyms, just one year band together and dont go to a stay and play comp, let it hurt them where it hurts!!!!!!

Completely off topic, but you do realize that it's not always the provider that requires stay to play, but it is sometimes required by the city and/or the arena? And cheer is by far not the only sport plagued by stay to play policies. Of all of cheerleading's problems, this isn't the one that I would spearhead a revolution on.

 

[cheermomforever]

Completely off topic, but you do realize that it's not always the provider that requires stay to play, but it is sometimes required by the city and/or the arena? And cheer is by far not the only sport plagued by stay to play policies. Of all of cheerleading's problems, this isn't the one that I would spearhead a revolution on.

The hotels will get their $$. STP was made for EP to get a cut!! That’s the problem! They say it’s to keep record of rooms being used from comp...BS

 

[ScottyB]

They say it’s to keep record of rooms being used from comp...BS

it is, but it is for the city to determine tax rates and kick backs from the venue rental etc. EP does it to benefit the relationship in that town and for the bottom line of the event

 

[cheermomforever]

it is, but it is for the city to determine tax rates and kick backs from the venue rental etc. EP does it to benefit the relationship in that town and for the bottom line of the event

You forgot to benefit EP pocket.....also

 

[ScottyB]

You forgot to benefit EP pocket.....also

that's why i said "for the bottom line of the event" ;)

 

[justpeachy]

As a consumer, I know that my power resides in my wallet. But, are we even making a dent in Forbes rated Varsity by cancelling our FloCheer subscriptions? I doubt it. How many of us would TRULY be willing to sacrifice competitions as we now know them to effect some real change? I'm talking about finding or creating non- Varsity sanctioned events. Buying non Varsity uniforms. Avoiding Varsity (literally) at all costs. Is this a viable option? I know it has been discussed for years- what has stopped us from actually committing? My family has 4-5 years left in the sport and college on top of that. That's a lot of money that I would much rather spend with a business that also works for me. I would be willing to sacrifice some of the cool rings and jackets for a few years to see some change. Is it feasible? If not, why?

 

[East78]

As a consumer, I know that my power resides in my wallet. But, are we even making a dent in Forbes rated Varsity by cancelling our FloCheer subscriptions? I doubt it. How many of us would TRULY be willing to sacrifice competitions as we now know them to effect some real change? I'm talking about finding or creating non- Varsity sanctioned events. Buying non Varsity uniforms. Avoiding Varsity (literally) at all costs. Is this a viable option? I know it has been discussed for years- what has stopped us from actually committing? My family has 4-5 years left in the sport and college on top of that. That's a lot of money that I would much rather spend with a business that also works for me. I would be willing to sacrifice some of the cool rings and jackets for a few years to see some change. Is it feasible? If not, why?

Cheer Alliance and Champions League were designed to get away from Varsity but they only lasted 1-2 years before that went away or became varsity ran (Cheer alliance). Owners don't want to be involved in event planing is the appearance from those events. As long as Varsity keeps sending those mega rebate checks for the events entered and uniforms purchased nothing will change. It doesn't benefit the owners of the gyms to walk away from a large chunk of money. Its easy to post a list of things to change or send out a Twitter comment.....then run to the bank with that Varsity check.

 

[TealArmySparkle]

The thing that gets me with this is that you would never see this in any other sport. I was explaining it to a friend who is an NHL fan and the only equivalent I could draw is a team (say the Pittsburgh Penguins) uploaded game highlights to their youtube channel. A network like Sportsnet or Fox Sports has the rights to the game that night and therefore demand them to remove the content promoting the team from the team's youtube channel or other social media accounts when it came from the teams own licensed coverage. It sounds absolutely absurd in relation to other sports, so why should it be a common practice within cheer? Things need to change and I'm hoping the petition can do something.

 

[CoachTamara]

As a consumer, I know that my power resides in my wallet. But, are we even making a dent in Forbes rated Varsity by cancelling our FloCheer subscriptions? I doubt it. How many of us would TRULY be willing to sacrifice competitions as we now know them to effect some real change? I'm talking about finding or creating non- Varsity sanctioned events. Buying non Varsity uniforms. Avoiding Varsity (literally) at all costs. Is this a viable option? I know it has been discussed for years- what has stopped us from actually committing? My family has 4-5 years left in the sport and college on top of that. That's a lot of money that I would much rather spend with a business that also works for me. I would be willing to sacrifice some of the cool rings and jackets for a few years to see some change. Is it feasible? If not, why?

Beyond rebate checks, parents demand Summit. Are these gyms willing to lose all the customers that believe this is the end all be all event? Jody from CA has said on these boards that they constantly hear from parents that they want bid events and want Summit, and complain when they attend other comps.

In California we have Jamz which allows some gyms to avoid Varsity all together, but we are extremely lucky to have an IEP that puts on great events and enough of them. That’s not the case for 95% of gyms.

 

[quitthedrama]

Beyond rebate checks, parents demand Summit. Are these gyms willing to lose all the customers that believe this is the end all be all event? Jody from CA has said on these boards that they constantly hear from parents that they want bid events and want Summit, and complain when they attend other comps.

In California we have Jamz which allows some gyms to avoid Varsity all together, but we are extremely lucky to have an IEP that puts on great events and enough of them. That’s not the case for 95% of gyms.

Parents did demand an end of year "best of the best" competition, but that does not have to be Summit, especially the way it has been run the past couple of years. The importance of that end of year competition is not who is running it, but rather who is attending. If the top gyms all came together and decided on which competitions they would attend and an EP hosted an end of year championship, my guess is it would be hugely supported. Add some clinics during the off times hosted by those top owners and coaches and you could quite possibly have a game changer that could benefit gyms, athletes and parents.
However I'm not sure we will ever see this happen because @East78 hit the nail right on the head.