AP state bureaus and preps

Got an email today from Ohio's AP sports editor telling us that AP is examining its "routine coverage."
They want to gauge it value of its minor prep sports coverage to their membership, given the time it takes to provide the content.
They want emails and tearsheets to see what we are using in our sections.

Here's what our state AP usually provides:
-- AP polls in football and boys and girls basketball.
-- Statewide score lists in football and boys and girls basketball.
-- AP all-district and all-Ohio teams in football and basketball.
-- A weekly roundup story on top performances across the state in football.
-- Regional and state tournament pairings and scores in all sports.
-- Full stories and boxscores on state final games in basketball and football.
-- 100 word stories on state semifinal football and basketball games.
-- Small stories and some agate for other state tournament championships.

I was kind of miffed recently when I received some state tourney agate packages this fall. AP ran the top 10 teams in golf (12 teams were playing in each division). A few weeks later they listed the top 5 teams at state cross country when there were 16 teams involved. As I sat there typing in the other 11 teams for the team scores in the 6 races I thought to myself, one AP clerk in Columbus could have done this and saved all the other papers in the state using this the hassle of doing it themselves. Thought about my own wasted time and the other wasted time at other papers in the state.

Ohio AP just relatively recently cut out small stories on Ohio college football below the Division I level and coverage of minor league baseball (except for the Mud Hens and Clippers).

Just wanted to ask people from other places what they get preps wise from their AP state bureaus?

 

Don't know about anyone else, but the Florida AP doesn't give one heaping shit about preps (outside of 6-inch gamers on football state finals). They don't help with polls, all-state teams, etc. All that must be done amongst the writers through e-mail.

Now, this was the issue from 2001-2005 when I worked in the state. Maybe things have changed, but looking at how Ohio's AP does it, and how Alabama's (my new state) does it, Florida sucked ass.

Alabama does a player of the week (I believe) and other state-wide awards.

I would have loved for the Florida AP to do things like Ohio. That sounds like a dream.

 

Massachusetts and New Hampshire AP do nothing, nothing, when it comes to high school stuff. Then again, it ain't that big here.

Pennsylvania AP always had stuff moving for preps, including a high school notebook and all-state teams. Don't know which bureau the notebook came out of, but it always had a few good nuggets in there.

 

Wow I guess maybe I should feel fortunate for what we already receive.

 

No, nothing has changed. The e-mail chain is alive and well.

 

High school football picks, a poll, a weekly player of the week, state-wide scores, state final coverage for football and basketball with photo staffing.
Of the three states I am familiar with, that's what the AP does. On other hand, only one of those states had a major league professional team...

 

You get farm more prep coverage from your state bureau than I even considered providing the members in my state although, in fairness, that was more than 15 years ago. Typically, AP bureaus, which have far smaller staffs than 90 percent of their member papers, have much more important things to do than punch in prep agate.

 

My question is didn't the state association have all the agate in a release?
So why not just copy and paste...

 

MIAA puts an actual bracket up online. Cutting and pasting is a mess.

 

AP in Ohio has cut a ton of stuff. It's simply ridiculous and if they continue to do so, they owe member papers a discount. After all we're getting less for the same price.

Nearly all of the agate they provide is vital and it has been axed to virtually nothing already. And a lot of it wrong or incomplete anymore.

You can tell they've made up their minds about cuts already. I don't think any amount of tear sheets are going to change their minds.

 

You can't copy and paste the agate because it is never formatted the way that it should run.
It seems like it always comes in like this:

1, Cherry, Eric, Midlothian High School, 4:52.32; 2, Moon, David, Cedar Park High, 4:52.33; etc.

Then you have to cleanup all the commas, make it so first names are first and take out all of the "high school" parts. I'm not necessarily asking the AP to type it in, but I've never experienced agate as a simple copy and paste.

As far as Texas, they do top 10 polls for Class 1A through 5A in football and stories on the state championship football games. They run weekly statewide football scores and top 10 fared on Friday nights. They have random stories on football teams, but for the most part don't offer anything weekly as far as notebooks or players of the week or whatever.

During other sports, I don't think the AP provides much for state tournaments, but I could be wrong.

 

Moon: I, feel your pain, buddy. I, too, received that email and thought, "They've already made up their minds."