Super Bowl Story?

There's a few guys from my state that will participate in the Super Bowl. I was wondering if any of you have ever had any luck in arranging these kind of stories before the game, and if so, how did you go about it?
Thanks.

 

We did one last week on the conference championship games. One guy's father lives here in town, one of our high school coaches recruited another to his college, some local coaches went up against others when the players were in high school. We talked to them and used press conference transcripts for some of the bigger fish. If you can't get direct access, it can still be done.

My advice is use local contacts where you can. Call or e-mail the Giants and Patriots PR guys, too, to see if there are teleconferences you can get into. If it's not guys like Brady or Manning, you might even be able to set up a phone interview this week before they leave for Arizona and the crush hits. My paper here in Podunk isn't exactly the New York Times, and the Giants' PR guy was quite responsive to me last week. He's on my "nice" list.

 

It helps if the guy you're trying to interview knows you personally and doesn't get a lot of national media attention. A few years ago I successfully got a good story out of a local college player who was a reserve for the eventual champion. I went through the media relations department to set it up, without any problem. Turns out the player figured prominently in the game, and it made me look like a genius for interviewing him ahead of time.

 

If his parents are still local, call them and try to get a cell phone number or an email address...

Also, call the PR staff now and try to get him on the phone before they leave for Arizona. Your chances now are much better than once they arrive at the chaos that is the Super Bowl.

It depends on what team you're talking about, but it's usually a good idea not to call the top PR guy. If there are four PR people listed, call the third on the list. They're more likely to help you than the guy who is trying to set up Eli Manning's interview schedule for the next 12 days...

 

Thanks for all the notes guys, and no, it's not a star player, which, hopefully, will help