NCAA Championships Media Credentials
A committee consisting of representatives from institutions and conferences administers each NCAA championship. The committees have developed policies for media credentialing; generally, the NCAA staff administers the policies on behalf of the committees.
At most championships, credentials are available to any agency that wishes to cover the event. Because of high demand at other championships, the committees have developed criteria to determine credentials allocations. Circulation and coverage of regular-season contests are the primary criteria.
At those high-demand championships (e.g., Division I Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's Ice Hockey etc., media may qualify for credentials in one of two ways:
- By consistently covering a team during the regular season
- By meeting NCAA requirements for print-media circulation or electronic-media market size.
Each sports information director (SID) will compile a listing of agencies that cover the team during the regular season and will cover the team in the NCAA championship. The SID will submit this list to the media coordinator at the championship site. Sports editors and sports directors are responsible for submitting their agenices' information to the SID. The media coordinator at the championship site will use this list to assign credentials and make reservations in the media headquarters hotel.
Agencies that did not consistently cover a team's regular-season games, but meet the NCAA requirements for circulation or market size, must contact the media coordinator at the championship site to apply for credentials to cover competition at a preliminary-round site. Media may obtain the names of of the media coordinators from the NCAA staff liaison.
For finals sites, media must contact the NCAA staff media liaison to obtain information.