Making the Sports Information jump

i wanna be an SID at a school such as the Football Championship Series university located near me. guy makes 50-60K, has yet to produce a basketball media guide for either men or women, never does a baseball or any type of spring sports guide, writes maybe--on a good week--three releases and can never be reached on the phone; he's a running joke amongst us area media types who are actually the only means by which news gets out on this school.
okay, he does sell ads for the football program during the fall, but...geez...do i see "Gravy Train" inscribed below his name plate?
to vet scribes who knock out their fair share of stories and have other obligations during a week's time, this is a job made in heaven.
there's gotta be a catch somewhere that he's actually doing something to let folks know this school has athletics.

 

Why didn't anyone tell me wearing a mascot suit was one of the job requirements?

I actually have worn a mascot suit, though not at a game!

 

The hours may be equally bad, but I'm having trouble imaging how they could be worse. It's still a 168-hour week, afaik.

 

Well, here's one way: How many newspaper managers do you know that require you to work a 9-5 shift before going out to cover a game, too? Not unusual for some SIDs.

And the pay, believe it or not, can be just as bad, too.

 

I've known newspaper managers who expect you to be in for an 8 a.m. meeting after you stayed up until 2:30 a.m. getting the section out, then you have to make some phone calls during the day before covering a game that night. The dreaded triple split.

Now that I have no trouble believing.

 

I worked as an SID for several years at small and mid-sized D-I schools. There is a career ladder, like in anything else. To think one is going to walk in and be the head SID at a BCS school is no more realistic than expecting to be the Sports Editor at a major metro. The people in those positions have usually been around a long time and worked their way up the ladder.

I started as an intern making --- dare I say it --- $250 per month for approx. a 40-hour week. That was in the early 1990s and the pay has certainly improved since then. Now I see a lot of internships that pay around $1,000-$1,200 per month. Obviously, most are filled by people just out of school, looking to get some practical experience.

Those are the people you will be competing against for full-time jobs. If you can't afford to be an intern or grad assistant, you might get a shot as a D-II or D-III SID. Usually a one-person staff, with some student help. Really tough to go fromthere to a D-I school, but if you can be content in life doing that and not always be looking for the next big job, it's not a bad gig.

Expect to make anywhere from mid 20s to MAYBE 40k, if you're lucky. As others have mentioned, lots of long hours, night games, weekends, etc. You usually have the flexibility to set your own hours (I would often update stats at night after games rather than come in at 8 a.m. the next morning). Most of the D-IIs and under that I am familiar with, the work is much different than at a D-I. Not as many media guides to do, more marketing and event management stuff. Some schools even have part-SID, part-coaching positions.

Having worked in both arenas, I can site plenty of pros and cons to both.

Please understand that as budgets tighten, more and more schools are looking to eliminate positions, so one is not entirely safe from the chopping block as an SID, either.

 

Excuse you. Just like you don't enjoy advertising assholes who tell you how to report/write/edit/design, SIDs don't enjoy newspaper assholes who tell them they can't possibly work as long or as hard as they do.

Someone has to be there to turn on the lights in the press box and have materials waiting for reporters before the event. And someone has to be there to turn off the lights when the last reporter has filed. It's usually the same person.

And it's not about covering "a meeting" after a late night. It's about pulling 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday, every week IN ADDITION to working games for multiple sports. It's about not getting guaranteed days off (you know, work five and off two) under labor law because nobody would dare hire an SID as an hourly employee.

Now fetch me a Killian's, newbie. And STFU.

 

I'm perfectly willing to accept that both sides work equally crappy hours. But the bwahaha was in response to the idea that newspapers have it better.

"Someone has to be there to turn on the lights in the press box and have materials waiting for reporters before the event. And someone has to be there to turn off the lights when the last reporter has filed. It's usually the same person. "

I know my workday ends when I leave the arena... :

 

And learn how to use the damn quote function, if you're so smart.

 

"And learn how to use the damn quote function, if you're so smart."

I see a quote at the beginning and a quote at the end. Seems to be functioning...

 

In 25 years in the business I've known a lot of SIDs and a lot of reporters, and I don't know many reporters who work as many hours as the SIDs on their beats. Without getting into the whole "work smarter, not longer" routine, in most cases the time in the office/at the arena isn't even a close race.

That might not be true for some here, but it's my experience. I have good friends in the SID business, and I have no idea how they have families with all of the demands upon their time.

 

Very good point, Johnny. There are slower seasons. Especially the summer, if your school doesn't have football coming up. I'd often work 30 hour weeks --- to make up for the 70-hour weeks during winter/spring sports overlap --- and did minor league baseball radio at night to supplement it.

You have to be willing to put up with a lot of BS.... like explaining to the women's tennis coach for the 60th time why their results didn't make the cover of the local sports section and why the paper covers the high schools more than us. (I once had a college basketball coach threaten to sue the paper because our game story in the local paper was below the fold the same day the Dallas Cowboys were playing in the NFL playoffs. Thankfully, he eventually calmed down.)

And, yes, crisis management is a big part of the job. When the star quarterback/ point guard gets busted for whatever the night before the big game, you'll get calls at home from every reporter in the world, even those who can't spell the university name correctly.

The job has its good points, especially if you are a hard core stat junkie and couldn't care less how many fans/TV types turn out for the game. Just know ahead of time what you are getting into.