The local paper needs the football club more than the football club needs the local paper

So, assuming the newspaper is devoted to the same small town or limited readership where the team sells its tickets ... what do you think should make up the daily sports report, then? Are there other stories that the locals would prefer to read about other than this team?

 

Rugby, Premier League, cricket ... whatever. I wouldn't sweat this team one bit.

 

they can get all that anywhere, they can't news on their local team.

 

OK.

Now you can think about why a person would read your paper.

I don't know the particulars of the town, but my gut feeling is the team is probably right.

 

Bullshit. It's just the owner being petty. And the regular readers will be more pissed at the team than the other way around. Any publicity is good for a team that draws less than 10,00 fans. I'm sure there are plenty of other local stories to cover. There's probably local rugby, cricket and other soccer teams as well. Fuck this team if they don't want you doing features and game previews to build interest. Giving the readers the news is why I initially said run a brief, but I'd be OK just ignoring them. Amazes me how many people on this site are anti-newspaper. Yes, there are other places to get the news, but if you want to get it from a source that reports only stories slanted toward the team, be my guest. Or listen to the radio. Sigh.

 

Pay for a ticket and cover the team from the stands.

Run stick figure drawings, that's been done in England before, if they won't let you shoot the games.

I know the economics are changing but it used to be true that minor-leagues and small colleges were dependent on media coverage to sell tickets and get butts in the seat.

Does anyone know if that's still the case?

 

Yes, your local Podunk press is fair and balanced. They never slant stories for the good guys.
It's not anti newspaper, it seems to be reality.

 

Yeah, I'm pining for the days when we get all of our news from the government offices and teams themselves instead of having reporters digging into things. Sounds like utopia!

 

You're comparing third division soccer to covering the government?

 

Sometime in the mid '60s, Walter Annenburg, scion of the family that owned the Daily Racing Form and also owned of the Philadelphia Inquirer and also a real shit, got into some dispute with the 76ers. So he took them out of the paper. I mean OUT. When you looked at the NBA standings in the agate, the Sixers weren't there.
Ridiculous, but with a grandeur in its petty spite. At last check both the Sixers and Inquirer (albeit both barely) are still around.

 

In the sense that you would only get what the organizations wanted you to know? Yes.

 

Mr. Power said ... he was tired of reading articles that “were always slanted against us,” citing a piece from a local outlet last week that focused on how Liverpool would most likely bring a weakened squad of players to an exhibition match at Swindon Town. That hurts the club, Mr. Power said, because “we’re trying to sell tickets to the game.”

Really? Boo-fucking-hoo.

If reasons like that are why you're going to ban me if I was their beat writer, I'd inform Mr. Power he's really not going to like what I write from here on out, and God help you if you lose. We'll see how long that lasts.