Preps Under Attack

I can remember years ago when the Toledo Blade called us every Friday and Saturday night for football scores (and maybe basketball; can't remember) and then asking us to fax them the box scores. This was before email was so prevalent, and to be honest, I don't even think we had an email address at the time.
The guy would say to include a Social Security number and name on the box score, and we'd get checks each month. It was a nice chunk of change, as I recall. But the checks stopped several years ago, although the calls and requests lasted a few more years.
Now you can get scores from lots of websites, or social media if you find dependable, reputable posters.

 

I used to see our major daily at events numerous times during a season...the past 3-4 years I rarely run into anyone until we reach the state tournament phases of prep sports.

 

Was surprised to learn I received more to freelance high school football than the man covering a NIT quarterfinal for the AP.

 

I will agree with what others have said. The only disagreement I have is the rag I am at decided to do away with prep sports preview tabs, which I think is a mistake. Not that difficult and easy to sell ads for. A decent money maker. The rest I am in agreement. Interesting feature on a kid in the area that has a strong story gets more reads online than probably all the gamers combined, particularly if they are all written in the usual fashion. Only so many times a big run in the second quarter ledes will get readers to care. None outside fans of the HS.

There is still a spot for preps definitely. Preview tabs, coverage of teams throughout the year, easy ads for teams going to state supporting the kids. The problem is that staffs have been hacked so much that if you cover more than 15 teams it's pretty difficult to give some decent teams enough coverage or more than a feature. Coaches honestly almost in my experience dgaf if you write a gamer or a 3-graph brief with box score to get Jenny Jones' name in the paper. They want you there. With one reporter probably per 10 teams makes that impossible and it frays the relationships.

 

What was the guy covering the NIT getting, $100?

 

I got $100 for buzzer gamer, interview video and rewritten optional with quotes.

AP guy got $50.

 

Damn, pretty sure it was more than that for MetroStars games like 15 years ago. Would think he only wrote 6-7 grafs.

 

I hate having to agree with this, but I do. On top of all that, factor in open-enrollment abuse and little to no sit-out penalties for transferring - at least in California - and high school sports has also become predictable. The same teams in the top divisions win every year now. There's no drama, except for the increasing number of coaches who have gotten fed up with it all and quit.

 

My shop has also scaled back its preps coverage quite a bit in recent years. People want to know why, and can't understand why we need more than them and a few of their friends to justify covering a random track meet. The demand doesn't always justify the time commitment. It's a business. We don't have an obligation to cover every little thing that one person might care about.

There are still loads of great stories on the preps beat, and we have a reporter covering them, but the days of staffing every game are long gone.

 

I think the days of High School coverage on Saturday (pretty much the only reason to put out a Saturday paper) are done. Your target audience for game coverage - the kids and probably their parents now - don't read the print product.

 

It's hard for me to get motivated to still do high school games when the per Diem I get while travelling with my University volleyball team is more than what I get paid for working a game for a local shop.

Let the kids have some fun and get some reps.

 

Two of my old papers would wrap the "usual" Saturday section (we would make it a four-pager) with four broadsheet pages of high school football -- making sure we got color on 3C (the "usual" 1C) as well. Both were between 30-45k circs, maybe 40 high schools in the coverage area. 11:30 pm first deadline, 12:15 am second. We would track games down from the outlying areas if they didn't call in ...

Those were the days.

rb