no box scores

We still run every MLB box. But our roundups have been cut down to just the Midwest teams.

There was one day a couple of years ago where we had to really trim the baseball page because of a lack of space. We dropped all of the boxes except for the Cubs, Cards, Royals, Twins, White Sox and Brewers. The number of phone calls I took the next day made me realize we're not going to do that again.

I just can't see aggravating readers. So much any more, we (the newspaper business) get hung up on this whole local-local-local thing. We don't realize at times that more of our "local" readers care about the regional and national stuff as well.

 

It looks like you're running the expanded boxes. What if you just ran the regular boxes and only did roundups of NL West teams, since those would directly affect the D-Backs.

 

You think it's bad during baseball, wait till NFL season

 

As I said, we've been limited to no more than 12 columns of wire copy per day. Even if we ran regular boxes and roundups, it would take up so much space we wouldn't have room to get our local news in. We're in a tough position being a medium-sized paper in a big sports city. We have to cover the Diamondbacks, Cardinals and Suns - we quit covering the Coyotes this year - but we also have to cover more than 50 high schools. So we're squeezed every day as it is. And when management dictates we have to cut 15 pages per week, it becomes impossible to do what we need.

 

You quit covering the NHL team in your adjacent town?

Was that just on the road or completely?

I am not a big baseball fan and do not read the box scores. If they disappeared from our newspaper it would not bother me in the least. Same with NBA and NFL boxes.

But I know a lot of readers like them, especially with our demographic that is older. It would be crazy to eliminate the boxes. I'm sure one day we will, though.

 

We stopped covering the Coyotes both home and road when we lost two positions last summer.

 

Can't you just ditch the out-of-town roundups and go to the basic boxes we used to run before USA Today started running the expanded boxes?

And if you have to run wire of other MLB teams, why not do what someone else suggested: Just run wire copy for the NL West teams? Or perhaps one or two MLB teams besides the D-backs that are popular in Arizona?

There are ways to trim fat without slashing too much meat.

 

Wow.

Good luck with the changes.

 

How many pages are averaging a day?

 

If we have to choose between roundups or agate, we always run agate first. No matter which sport. Even high school, we get more complaints when the boxscores don't run.

 

Of course you should keep the national boxes. Use as much wire as you like. But you still have to cut pages. Guess you'll have to cut local beats and the jobs that used to be supported by them. Gotta cut some overhead somehow.

 

I wouldn't play in a fantasy league if you gave me the money, but in addition to the hardcore fans, the suits are ticking off the burgeoning fantasy crowd with this move. Big mistake. Roundup-reduction much better idea.