Heath Mills: Growing concerns over youth sport deal with Sky TV

There are growing concerns about plans to commercialise and stream youth sport.Earlier this year, Sky TV signed up to a deal that sees the blanket broadcasting and live-streaming of school sport on their platforms under the guise of the New Zealand Sports Collective.Now, a NZ Herald report has highlighted further concerns about the way the deal was done. Heath Mills, who formerly worked in secondary school sports before starting the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association and, latterly, the New Zealand Athletes' Federation, told Martin Devlin that there "What does concern me is the commodification of youth. Who owns the right? What rights do people have to exploit and make money off of 15, 16, 17-year-olds who are playing school sport?"He says that it opens the doors for other commercial entities, such as advertisers and sponsors, to get involved. Mills is concerned about the involvement of the Government through the state-owned entity Sport NZ. "The fact the Government has been so heavily supporting this is a disgrace." While most of Mills' ire is directed at Sport NZ leadership, he believes people in positions of responsibility at Sky TV also need a reality check."There are people involved there that should know better. They need to stop being captivated by the stardust and start to recognise some of the unintended consequences of their good intentions in supporting youth sport."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.