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OKLAHOMA CITY — Action on the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association’s streaming contract with the NFHS Network will have to wait until at least June.
The OSSAA board tabled the matter Wednesday following discussion that veered from the March 11 incident involving racist slurs directed toward the Norman High girls basketball team, heard over a network telecast, to general dissatisfaction with the streaming service.
Board members said constituents were upset long before an announcer made hateful remarks about the Norman girls as they knelt during the playing of the national anthem before a first-round Class 6A state tournament game at Sapulpa High School.
“A lot of our customers are not happy with this contract, and when customers aren’t happy, something needs to be looked into,” one board member said.
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On the advice of OSSAA attorney Mark Grossman, board members agreed to collect a list of grievances that could be used to leverage a contract set to run through 2027-28.
One way to terminate the contract, Grossman said, would be to show that NFHS Network failed to live up to production standards outlined in the contract and did nothing to remedy the situation. But as currently written, the standards “are not very specific,” Grossman said.
“Right now is your best leverage for (pushing the network for) more specificity in those standards,” Grossman said.
Other grievances include broadcasts that didn’t start on time or when buffering occurred in a production, OSSAA executive director David Jackson said.
Technical support hasn’t been NFHS Network’s best feature, representative Mark Koski said Wednesday when meeting with the board.
“Our support infrastructures have been overwhelmed,” he said. “It’s great to have growth but we had no idea it would take off like it did. Calls came in and weren’t answered. A lot of schools have not received the same level of service as others have. But now we’re moving forward.”
The network is taking steps to improve the situation, he said, “I think you’re going to see improvement.”
Koski made a 45-minute presentation outlining the scope and purpose of the nonprofit organization, which contracts with activities associations in 46 states to live stream postseason athletic contests.
Created in 2013, NFHS Network has streamed 537,000 high school athletic events nationally, including about 12,000 in Oklahoma.
“At a cost of $10.99 per month, fans can watch 30 days of unlimited sporting events,” Koski said. “About 75 percent of our subscribers are from outside of the states they are watching. We don’t want to take ticket (revenue) away from the state associations. Our No. 1 goal is so that parents and grandparents (in other states) don’t miss a second of the action.”
But to cover so much territory, NFHS Network must hire third-party contractors in each state, like Tahlequah-based OSPN and owner Matt Rowan, who admitted making the hateful remarks toward the Norman girls that were heard over an open microphone.
“This should never have happened,” Koski said. “One person has put us all in a position to take away from Norman High girls and their success, and that’s a problem. We took it seriously and continue to take it seriously.”
OSSAA and NHFS Network broke with OSPN almost immediately. To prevent it happening again, Koski said, the network is looking at stronger measures, such as closer screening of potential third-party personnel and production of a how-to guide for prospective announcers.
