The death of media guides?

From VUcommodores.com (link at the bottom), by David Rutz

The possible elimination of printed media guides for Southeastern Conference and all Division I teams will be discussed at the SEC spring meetings, which start May 25 in Destin.

For Vanderbilt fans that have purchased these books and National Commodore Club members accustomed to receiving them as a perk of membership, the possibility of moving the guides online is significant.

"We want our fans to understand what is going on and why," said Vanderbilt Director of External Relations Rod Williamson.

SEC Associate Commissioner Charles Bloom said the possible changes are primarily about budgetary concerns.

"The rationale behind this legislation is to move everything online," Bloom said. "When we talk about the budget shortfalls that people are having, and a way to cut money out of the budget, media guides are seen as one of the first things that athletic administrations look at to cut money."

There is a very good chance that the books will be eliminated sometime in the next year and possibly immediately.

The spring meetings will involve discussion between school athletic directors and SEC officials, and the conference will attempt to move legislation on media guides forward to be voted on by the NCAA, Bloom said.

http://vucommodores.cstv.com/genrel/051709aaa.html

Anyone feel stronger about this one way or another?

 

You may find some opinions on the topic here:
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/69773/

(And count me in favor of the old-fashioned dead-tree version.)

 

There seem to be a lot of people in favor of printed versions. Perhaps the FWAA should do something for once and make that sentiment known.

 

Dealing with a non-print media guide is an absolute bitch when you're on deadline.

 

100 percent agree.
Something you can thumb through a book and find in seconds usually takes forever to downlad.

 

If you want a hard copy go to the office and print one out.

 

I'll do that. Then I'll hire a guy to carry it, too.

 

Oops, sorry I missed the ACC thread.

But now I hear the Pac-10 is going to get rid of them too.

 

In my previous job I eliminated our annual printed media guide. The costs are far out of line for the product. Plus, they are outdated as soon as they roll off the press. I like something handy to flip through as well, but they cost a ton.

 

I deal with school budget reports (about the same size), and the search feature in an adobe file is very, very nice.

Why not just download the guide and keep it on the desktop?

 

The NHL went to a DVD-rom this year. The league guide, the media directory, the rule book, and all 30 team guides on one disk. Just copy it to the computer and you're good. (Some teams still printed a guide, and there remains a printed NHL Guide and Record Book for fans to buy.)
NASCAR did this a few years ago; may still print a guide as well.
The PGA Tour is eliminating its three guides (regular, Champions and Nationwide tours) next year.

 

Mixed feelings, as a former SID.

For an SID, they were your major off-season work project. And the work will still have to be done even for an online version. Of course an online version can be updated as the season goes along, as well, which is nice.

As most schools turned these things into recruiting tools rather than media tools, there was an awful lot of fat in some of them, especially at the larger schools. I would think it would be feasible to print a much smaller, condensed record and fact book that is maybe 1/4 the size of some of the current guides and could still be a valuable tool for working media.

Then again, I doubt the needs of working media rank particularly high on the priority list of most school administrators. If they can't use them as recruiting tools, maybe they'll ditch them altogether.