Question about stringer pay, freelance landscape

Specifically, about sportsxchange.
I can't be the only college football team correspondent on this board doing the mountainous Tuesday, Sunday files during the season. No, they don't take too long to do, but it's a mountain of information twice a week.

So, am I right that they were paying us $25 a file last year?
And, if so, is that changing?

Also, I'm curious what others think.
It's a terrific consistent gig that doesn't require any more legwork than I'm already doing following the team I cover. I'm thankful for it. But, I swear, sportsxchange is getting a ton for what they're paying for those files. I'm curious if anybody knows what their clients pay them for what we produce? Also, does anybody know if there are any outlets looking for similar content, but NOT THE SAME content, produced by sportsxchange. Seems like somebody might want something different than the same thing yahoo, usatoday, foxsports and any number of other sportsxchange clients are receiving.

Just curious,
Thanks

 

I've written for The Sports Xchange since 2007 and I can verify that it's been $20 a team file since at least last year, maybe the year before that. I should disclose that I also cover many NFL, college football, college basketball and NHL playoff games for TSX, so I might not be the most unbiased voice out there. I handle three teams for TSX and it can be a lot of work, but when the eagle craps once a month, it sure helps pay the bills.

 

I do a small conference for TSX for college hoops, and they severely reduced the amount of copy that I had to send in on a weekly basis. That file used to take me a full eight hours on Sunday to put together. Now it's more like three hours.

 

I do a couple of small conferences for TSX (Ohio Valley and the A-Sun) and it used to be a two-day proposition before they reformatted the "red line" leagues, to use a Kyle Whelliston term. Believe me, there's nothing like trying to write a Stetson Hatters file at 4:55 in the morning when you've been grinding away on team files for 8 hours in a row.

 

I do the Big South ... and two schools (Presbyterian and Gardner-Webb) receive next to nothing in terms of basketball coverage. Trying to write that full file on Presby each week was a nightmare. When they'd come to town I'd get five weeks worth of "quotes to note" from their coach just to have a backup.

I think they realized there wasn't much in the way of readership value for writing a full file on those schools. The conference notes package suffices.