Proper attire for the press box

What's the proper attire for a press box? I have seen jeans and suits. What is professional ?

 

You're going to have to be more specific. What are you covering?

 

Maybe someone can outline different events

 

Covering an NCAA Super Regional today in 90-degree heat and high humidity, go ahead and wear a golf shirt and khaki shorts. College or pro basketball or football, I usually wear a dress shirt and slacks, sometimes a tie. High school football, polo shirt and jeans is beyond fine.

 

If you're wearing flip-flops in a press box
– or in a newsroom – you look like a lazy slob.

 

Especially if there is fungus on them.

 

<img src="http://www.spencersonline.com/images/spencers/products/interactivezoom/processed/07109143.interactive.a.jpg">

It says: "Yes, I consider this a serious event, but I like to have fun."


There are A LOT of discussions about this in the past. You'll get tons of "advice" if you keyword a few things like "attire" "pressbox" and "khakis".

I would say not to dress for the beach or your wedding. Anything in the middle is acceptable. I covered a "power conference" football/basketball team for a few years and basically did jeans, golf shirts, button ups with no tie and khakis with tennis shoes/boots and never got an awkward glance. The ones that did wore team apparel. NEVER wear that team's apparel, its lame.

 

I always tried to dress one level higher than I thought my counterparts would dress. This meant, at a minimum, a polo and khaki shorts for All-Stars and if it was over 80 or 85 degrees for high school baseball and softball. From there, it was a polo and khaki pants for most everything else on the high school level. For playoff basketball, I'd wear an oxford with khakis, and every now and then, I'd pull out a tie, or sport coat without the tie. I only wore a T-shirt on company time once, because it was all I had in the car after a 100 degree day and afternoon downpour rendered my golf shirt a smelly and wet mess. Even then, I tucked in my T-shirt. You can dress for comfort without dressing like you have just gotten off a three day bender. Even if you have just gotten off a three day bender.

 

also never wear the apparel of the OTHER team. I knew a photog who covered an NFL game while wearing the visiting team's jersey. That drew a lot of angry phone calls from the home team, especially since that was the year of Spygate.

meanwhile, what's proper attire for a courthouse?
http://www.standard.net/Staff-Columns/2014/06/06/Reporter-booted-from-court-for-bare-shoulders.html

 

I've covered a lot of things over the last 15 years, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a suit and tie worn by a reporter in a press box. Khakis and a decent collared shirt seem to be more than fine. That's what I normally wear to the office, and the press box is essentially an extension of that.
Most events, you can probably get away with a collared shirt and jeans, which is the way I go a lot of times for comfort's sake. The jeans allow you to wear tennis shoes, which are far easier to move around in if you have to climb stadium steps to get back to the press box or walk a mile to the car. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever turned me in to the press box fashion police.

Like spikechiquet and others said, the one real no-no is team apparel. Not only is it unprofessional, in some places it might get you kicked out of the press box.

 

I found that people will treat you more professionally when you dress professionally. But, yes, different attire for different occasions. If I'm covering a golf tournament and going to be doing a lot of walking in the sun, I'll dress in something suitable for walking. If I'm sitting in a press box at a hockey game, I'll dress a little nicer.

Obviously, wearing t-shirts with crude images or language would be a no-no. I'll usually wear golf shirts or polo shirts for outdoor events and button shirts for indoor events.

One former colleague was covering a local amateur golf tournament and the people at the club wouldn't let him in wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I thought that was going a bit too far, although I probably would have opted for more traditional golf attire.