All-Star Is Varsity Serious?

[UCFKnights07]

Has varsity ever had a live feed? I was talking about the performance videos they upload after the competitions. You know, the ones where they always cut out the partner stunts aka my favorite part of the routine [emoji35]

ohhh yeah now i remember, they would show only like a minute of a 2-3 minutes routine. personally i hate those highlight type of videos....

 

[catlady]

At what point where they non profit? Saying non profit does not automatically give non profit status, except in some cases religious institutions. This has been said for years but no official documentation has shown them to be 501 (c) 3 which is what they claim they were. This was one of the contentions of the grow cheer request a few years ago that they reorganize as 501 (c) 3. If they were 501 (c) 3 the filing is public and it is available for public viewing.

I was strictly going by what I had seen once upon a time when I looked at their website. Someone recently said in another thread they had changed their status. Have I looked at a tax form? No, I was just offering up a possible reason why Varsity was targeted and USASF was not. US All Star Federation: Non-Profit Charter
http://usasf.net.ismmedia.com/ISM3/std-content/repos/Top/2013 Website/About/docs/usasf_charter.pdf

 

[cheernerd5678]

Has varsity ever had a live feed? I was talking about the performance videos they upload after the competitions. You know, the ones where they always cut out the partner stunts aka my favorite part of the routine [emoji35]

They live feed high school and college nationals and I thought they did allstar nationals but maybe not? They definitely charge though... I recall one year the UCA college nationals feed wasn't working so they ended up streaming it free and refunding people's money I believe. I know I watched a free cheersport live stream either this year or the year before.
The CA blue debut live stream wasn't free, the CEA one was though

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[Official OWECheer]

Has varsity ever had a live feed? I was talking about the performance videos they upload after the competitions. You know, the ones where they always cut out the partner stunts aka my favorite part of the routine [emoji35]

Ugh. I hate when they cut out running tumbling. They did that in my favorite routine (NLMS 2011) and those kids had majority RO tucks and RO BHS layouts (and 1 full) that year. Amazing. Only reason I can see it is because someone posted the full routine on YouTube ("illegally" filmed, of course).

Now that I think of it, this will give parents a greater incentive to film their kids' teams on the low. 'Why pay money to see what I could have filmed live, or watch it later with no sound/parts cut out?'

 

[King]

Legality said no more sound. The PR teams said to say it out of respect.


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[Eyes On The Prize]

Legality said no more sound. The PR teams said to say it out of respect.


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Out of respect for themselves so they don't get sued.

Varsity is so seedy, I don't believe they'd do anything "out of respect" for anyone unless the benefited from it majorly.

 

[King]

Out of respect for themselves so they don't get sued.

Varsity is so seedy, I don't believe they'd do anything "out of respect" for anyone unless the benefited from it majorly.

I can't really say this is underhanded. It is pivoting something that could be perceived as bad into good.

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

I can't really say this is underhanded. It is pivoting something that could be perceived as bad into good.

I agree, I don't think them talking away sound was meant to be underhanded either.

But the "out of respect" answer is what bothers me. They never give clear answers for their actions and it leaves the consumers with more questions. They do this stuff all the time. They only give us half answers and never the whole story. Nothing is ever transparent with them. That's the part that's seedy.

If this is some sort of step towards something new and improved regarding competition videos, then why go about it this way? If they're taking away sound because of legal purposes, why not just say "it's because of legal purposes"?

 

[icame2WERQ]

I agree, I don't think them talking away sound was meant to be underhanded either.

But the "out of respect" answer is what bothers me. They never give clear answers for their actions and it leaves the consumers with more questions. They do this stuff all the time. They only give us half answers and never the whole story. Nothing is ever transparent with them. That's the part that's seedy.

If this is some sort of step towards something new and improved regarding competition videos, then why go about it this way? If they're taking away sound because of legal purposes, why not just say "it's because of legal purposes"?

I feel like their response was fine. I don't think need to go into full detail. Obviously there is copyright issues with using sound on "on-demand" cheer routines. So out of respect they have to follow procedure.

 

[catlady]

Out of respect for themselves so they don't get sued.
Varsity is so seedy, I don't believe they'd do anything "out of respect" for anyone unless the benefited from it majorly.

You can look at that two ways. When a corporation protects itself from being sued, they are also protecting their customer who will ultimately pay for the lawsuit.

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

You can look at that two ways. When a corporation protects itself from being sued, they are also protecting their customer who will ultimately pay for the lawsuit.

I get it, I do, I am not against them taking away the sound. But I think the way they handled it could've been better. On its own it's not a big deal but the secrecy behind their decisions is a common practice for varsity. Every year it's a different thing.

I have an overall issue with their lack of transparency and this only serves as yet another example to add to my list.

 

[SL&AM]

Making something free doesn't really get them out of the copyright hot water, so to speak---but this change doesn't surprise me. I think the cheer community has gotten away with the use of music without approval for quite a while now and it was only a matter of time before others caught on. In the days of viral videos, all it takes is one or two of those videos from World's to hit someone who knows someone who knows someone to be like "Wait, what music are they using?" Kinda like how Abby Lee Miller is in hot water not because the courts got smart and went behind her to verify her records; but because one night the judge was channeling surfing and found her show.

 

[catlady]

I get it, I do, I am not against them taking away the sound. But I think the way they handled it could've been better. On its own it's not a big deal but the secrecy behind their decisions is a common practice for varsity. Every year it's a different thing. I have an overall issue with their lack of transparency and this only serves as yet another example to add to my list.

I may be wrong but, I think the difference with Varsity versus most corporations is just the fact we are more interested. I was a corporate customer service executive and because of ever changing laws, we had to change customer policies and business practices often and we rarely put out a press release. It wasn't because we were trying to hide anything, it's just a non-stop flow of tax, consumer protection, import, billing, purchasing, building, city, local, federal, third party laws that change constantly and create domino effects. Honestly, large corporations are a lot less about strategic planning and a lot more about putting out constant fires.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Making something free doesn't really get them out of the copyright hot water, so to speak---but this change doesn't surprise me. I think the cheer community has gotten away with the use of music without approval for quite a while now and it was only a matter of time before others caught on. In the days of viral videos, all it takes is one or two of those videos from World's to hit someone who knows someone who knows someone to be like "Wait, what music are they using?" Kinda like how Abby Lee Miller is in hot water not because the courts got smart and went behind her to verify her records; but because one night the judge was channeling surfing and found her show.

And this is why I'm waiting to see what all of these cheer music DJs are going to do when the right (or wrong) person sees that they have been using copyrighted music and ignoring the cease and desist letters they received in 2012.

 

[tumbleyoda]

The issue with lack of transparency is IMO the number one reason why there is such a lack of trust with USASF/Varsity. It is not because we as clients need to know everything before they do it. When they do what needs to be done it should be sound business based on solid and verifiable public research instead of the nameless "small gyms" causing problems so we need to change approach. Stop denying you own 3/4 of the entire industry because you want consumers to think they have a choice when they really don't. If it is a business that runs performances, shows, and pageantry instead of a true sport because you can't control the latter as well as the former, say so. Don't point to individuals within your ranks as having integrity therefore you should be trusted in every matter because of them - when they have no hand in making the decisions that get people the most frustrated.

Make no mistake they offer a great product and product line. But the lack of transparency has always been their Achilles heel.