Vendors at your games

This continuously seems to be one of the hardest things to transition among high schools.  Tradition should be considered in your program, not your vendors.  It's one of the most contentious topics I encounter, especially with media groups. 

If you are going to charge your vendors (and you should) the only important factor to consider is to be consistent and have an outline.  Here's the one we use:  Any company promoting a service, product, or brand at our high school sporting events falls under our vendor agreement policy.

This includes media.  They love to fall under the guise of "reporting" and there needs to be a very clear outline here.  If they show up with a journalist and/or photographer.... bingo: Editorial.  If they are handing out bumper stickers and tee-shirts and parking their van on your front lawn: marketing/promotions.  It's very clear cut.  Radio, television, and newspapers know that their favorite audience is sitting in your stands on a Friday night.

We'll get into the fees in the next post.