Filming at Youth Sporting Competitions

[ryan.k.howard]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Colorado

Description:
I am writing a business plan for a youth sports event filming business. The concept is to sell youth athletes a video of them participating in a competition to evaluate and review their skills.

Here is an example:

A youth baseball player wants to see his at-bats on film. I position several cameras that would film the player hitting from several different angles, and then sell them their footage.

The problem:
This would probably capture other athletes in the film. The catcher, for example, would appear in some pictures, even though he wasn't the subject of the film.

Question:
Is it illegal to "incidentally" capture another athlete (say, the catcher) in the footage that is sold to the subject (say, the batter).

Thanks!

-Ryan

 

[Hot Topic]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Colorado

Description:
I am writing a business plan for a youth sports event filming business. The concept is to sell youth athletes a video of them participating in a competition to evaluate and review their skills.

Here is an example:

A youth baseball player wants to see his at-bats on film. I position several cameras that would film the player hitting from several different angles, and then sell them their footage.

The problem:
This would probably capture other athletes in the film. The catcher, for example, would appear in some pictures, even though he wasn't the subject of the film.

Question:
Is it illegal to "incidentally" capture another athlete (say, the catcher) in the footage that is sold to the subject (say, the batter).

Thanks!

-Ryan

You'd need to get permission from the other athletes to use their pictures. You can't make money from the "star," and expect the others to provide their services in your project for free so that the venture is solely for your profit.

 

[JustAPal00]

You'd need to get permission from the other athletes to use their pictures. You can't make money from the "star," and expect the others to provide their services in your project for free so that the venture is solely for your profit.

I've got to disagree with you on that. You can sell photo's taken at sporting events without the permission of the people involved. It's done all the time.

 

[quincy]

Both Hot Topic and JustAPal00 can be correct (or incorrect ).

Whether permission is needed or not will depend on the commercial uses of the video (or photos).

If ryan took a photo of a batter with the catcher pictured clearly, he could not sell that photo to, say, Kellogg's for use on a cereal box without written permission from the catcher and batter, as that could violate their rights of privacy/publicity and would be a misappropriation of their likenesses. If ryan took a video of the batter and catcher, he could not use the video as part of a commercial film without permission. To do so could invite a lawsuit.

But ryan's proposed use would seem to be allowable even without permission from those who are pictured if they are only incidental to the shots taken and the video is taken for the personal use of the batter.

As a note, just because something is "done all the time" does not necessarily mean it is legal.

 

[LillianX]

You could easily avoid any issues by simply blurring out the faces and names of the people who are not the "star" of the video. Even if it's perfectly legal, it may not prevent an overzealous parent from suing you, and costing you money to defend.

 

[tranquility]

One more thing is the permission of the venue. I know high-school sports in our area claim IP rights on the game itself. Higher level soccer competitions like State or National cup also make a similar claim.

That's where the problem may lie, what other rights are involved here? It's not just the privacy rights of non-targeted individuals the OP has to worry about.

 

[JustAPal00]

Both Hot Topic and JustAPal00 can be correct (or incorrect ).

Whether permission is needed or not will depend on the commercial uses of the video (or photos).

If ryan took a photo of a batter with the catcher pictured clearly, he could not sell that photo to, say, Kellogg's for use on a cereal box without written permission from the catcher and batter, as that could violate their rights of privacy/publicity and would be a misappropriation of their likenesses. If ryan took a video of the batter and catcher, he could not use the video as part of a commercial film without permission. To do so could invite a lawsuit.

But ryan's proposed use would seem to be allowable even without permission from those who are pictured if they are only incidental to the shots taken and the video is taken for the personal use of the batter.

As a note, just because something is "done all the time" does not necessarily mean it is legal.

I was speaking only on the legality of the OP's intended use of the video.
When I said "It's done all the time" I meant it's done legally all the time, every time a professional photographer snaps a photo or takes a video at a sporting event

 

[msl001]

youth sports films

did this ever get resolved? did this business ever get going?

 

[quincy]

did this ever get resolved? did this business ever get going?

ryan.k.howard created his thread over two years ago, msl001. He has posted to this forum exactly once. Although possible, it is probably not likely he will return to answer your question.

If you are in Colorado, however, and have a legal question similar to ryan's that you would like to discuss on the forum, you can start your own thread. It is sort of frowned upon on this forum to reopen old threads to add questions or comments.

Thank you.