Sports editor -- The Billings (Mont.) Gazette

The Billings Gazette has an amazing opportunity for the right person: Our award-winning sports department leads the state in high school and regional sports coverage. The Gazette is Montana’s largest newspaper and it’s looking for its next sports editor.

Not only will this person get the chance to lead an incredibly seasoned and capable department, but our next sports editor will continue to enhance our coverage both in print and online. We need someone who isn’t going to wilt as they try to figure out how to send reporters out to cover multiple sporting events across the region. In addition to covering high school sports, we have two collegiate programs and minor league baseball to staff.

We want someone to be a coach, a mentor and someone who’s not afraid to do whatever it takes to help maintain our premiere sports provider status. We also want those who can continue to envision new ways of delivering sports content in a digital world. Previous sports or newsroom management preferred. This person must know page design.

In addition to leading covering sports at Montana’s largest paper, outdoor opportunities are plentiful and Billings is a great place to shop, go out on the town or raise a family.

We offer an excellent benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, paid holidays and vacation. We are an equal opportunity employer. You can see our Web site at www.billingsgazette.com and learn more about our company at www.lee.net

If this sounds like your next job, we’d like to hear from you. Please send a cover letter, resume, three references and any work examples you think would best demonstrate why this is your dream job. Interested applicants may apply at www.billingsgazette.com/workhere

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1571209

 

Not a bad gig. One of four Lee Enterprises newspapers in the state. Have a regular reporter who covers Montana State University (100 miles away) and occasionally the University of Montana (300 miles away), although since Missoula is also a Lee property, they get most of the UM stuff from them.

Not sure how large the staff is now: maybe 5-6 plus part-timers.

Billings Mustangs are a Class A rookie league Reds' affiliate that plays from late June til early September in an eight-team league. So the schedule doesn't kill you and there are four other Lee papers in the league, so you can often trade out content with them. Also have a junior A hockey team.

Three major (Class AA) high schools and quite a few smaller ones, so normally several of the teams are in contention. (There are only 14 AA schools in the state, so getting to the playoffs is not real hard.) No high school baseball in Montana, but they have American Legion ball, which runs from mid-April (or whenever the snow melts) until late July.

In the past, they had a guy staff the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, although not sure if that remains the norm. Billings (around 100,000) is the largest city in about a 500-mile radius, so it makes travel problematic. And, yes, you'll get a fair amount of snow in the winter, but summers are lovely. Main ice/indoor arena got shredded by a tornado on Father's Day 2010, but has since been rebuilt. They'll get an occasional big name concert there.