ON Interviewing a D-League Player.

ALL-

Greetings!

I want to do a feature on a local D-League player. I need your help--is it best to reach out to the player first or to contact the team's organization or to contact the league, in general?

I want to make this feature happen soon, and I am worried about getting mired in unnecessary minutia.

Thank you.

 

Contact the team. If you go to the website, you should be able to find someone who has the title of media relations or something like that. At that level, it may be the GM.

 

Contact the team. They'll be helpful.

 

If you call the media relations person, and perhaps a second in the office, and you get the run-around for quite a while, then contact the player's agent.

Don't contact the player directly; the player might not mind, but it could work against you should he decide not to talk to you at that time.

Though, I guess you could contact the player if you want to ask who his agent is to set up an interview. That could work if you don't know who the agent is.

 

Are D-League rosters even set yet?

Do you have a relationship with the player? If it's a local guy you or your paper covered in HS or college, and you've got some history with him, I'd just try to get him directly.

 

Going through the team is likely to be pretty painless. The team will want the exposure and will make it easy on both you and the player.

Trying the player directly, I've found, can be pretty hit or miss. A lot of athletes just aren't very reliable.

 

Pretty much. Definitely go through the team, especially at the minor league level. More often than not, they're very cooperative.

 

I do not know the player directly; I just simply have an idea for a long-form feature.

This board is good. Real good.

Thank you for all of your advice.