The sacred MLB boxes

I guess you can't really tell them to get back to you about the second product after they've found a business model that works, huh?

Moddy, here's the thing, as I see it. The old way may not be working. But nobody can prove to me that this particular change would produce something that works better. My bet is that it would work worse.

 

So the future is based on ... oooh, look, a shiny ball!

 

Don't get me wrong, I know that the same would happen at my shop and we get angry calls even when there's a late, late game we leave out. I'm just saying that it's a justifiable thing to cut for a lot of people, especially those in a market without an MLB team or without someone with an extra hour to spend each night making a dedicated MLB box page.

 

That's what they always say, which I never understood. If you've got local preps copy, isn't Mom going to read that? It's sure as hell the moms who call up bitching when little Johnny Curveball ISN'T in the paper.

That said, I still don't think the vast majority of average readers give a shit about preps or most other local sport, with the notable exception of football and sometimes basketball.

If anybody gave a shit about high school volleyball or tennis, more than the parents would show up and watch it.

 

Mom probably isn't a subscriber. She just steals the neighbor's paper.

 

I agree with your misunderstanding. It's always a mystery to me why more ad reps don't try to sell clients on the sports section. We know a lot of people read it.

As someone else said, some national ads end up in there, just because of color position. Not because it's requested.

I actually had a barber who used to put a small ad in the sports section once a week. He quit advertising there, not because people didn't see it, but because the ad rep wouldn't give him the time of day. Never would return calls, answer questions, etc.

Smaller account = less commission = business owner gets ignored, then quits advertising.

[/threadjack over]

 

I absolutely hate it. To devote a full page in a four-page section, every single day for six months, to one sport that has consistently disgraced itself is a HORRIBLE waste of space.

 

Yes, let's have you bring your newsplay choices down to a moral judgment. Don't forget to tell newsside they need to scrap all stories on the governor of California, too.

 

Yeah, the hell with all the fans.

 

All sports have disgraced themselves.

 

I'm sure glad the title of the book got changed to The Lovely Bones.

 

Do you give any other sport/league that much space? I mean a full page in what some days is a four-page section is a HUGE percentage. And to do every single day for half the year? We don't do it for NFL, NBA, NHL, college sports, etc.

The space seems out of proportion to the rest of the sports world we cover.