There could be copyright or trademark issues with your book, yes.
The content of all broadcasts are copyrighted and all sports team identifiers are trademarked. Whether your uses of copyrighted material or trademarks in your book will infringe on another's rights, however, will depend on your exact uses of these rights-protected materials. The legality of use is fact-specific.
For example, while taking quotes from copyrighted material
can be considered a fair use of copyrighted material, what is taken and how much is taken and for what purpose it is taken can make an otherwise fair use of the material an infringement. While using a trademark in an entirely descriptive way
can be considered a fair use, the exact purpose of use and the reaction of consumers to the use of a trademark are two factors that must be considered to determine if a writer has infringed on a trademark holder's rights.
For more information on both copyright law and trademark law, you can visit the official U.S. websites at
http://www.copyright.gov and
http://www.uspto.gov.
Because there are many uses that are perfectly legal, and many uses that are not legal, you really should sit down with an IP attorney or a publishing law expert to go over your book ideas and/or manuscript. The professional can outline for you what areas in your book should be avoided altogether, what areas will require permission from rights-holders, what areas of content must be handled carefully to avoid any privacy/publicity rights issues, what areas of content must be handled carefully to avoid any false light/defamation issues.
All authors must take precautions when writing about identified people, to avoid as much as possible any legal action arising from the content of their books. All authors would be wise to take out insurance to cover the costs of any lawsuit should one arise from the content despite best efforts to avoid one. Self-publishers can be at special risk, because they often do not have the benefit of editors and lawyers who are routinely available to writers publishing their works through large publishing houses. The publishing house staff will help an author edit problematic content from a book prior to publication.
With all of that said, I think your
idea for a book on your local sports broadcaster is an excellent one and, if you take the necessary precautions prior to publication, it should be a nice tribute to him.
Good luck.
