stringer rates

[Love_Sports]

i've been thinking about leaving the business full-time but would want to still find some work in it and keep writing.

what is the going rate for a stringer covering a game, writing a feature, preview, sidebar, etc.? let's say at a major metro -- like seattle, minneapolis, denver, chicago, san diego ...

 

[Flip Wilson]

The major metro I string for pays $55 for high school football for two or three paragraphs and a box score.

 

[Shaggy]

For a straight gamer (generally college games but not always), I got paid 25 bucks at a broke 15K, 50 bucks at a 50K, 75 bucks at a 100K and 100 bucks at a 300K.

Usually 15-20 inch stories, maybe a box too.

 

[mustangj17]

30 bucks at a mid size daily. 100 bucks at a major metro.

 

[EagleMorph]

At a 40,000-50,000 daily located in a Top 30 Television Market, the stringer rate for high school and college games is $40. That usually includes something around a 10-inch gamer and a box. Depending on the news day, gamers can be longer or shorter.

 

[Stitch]

made $50 at a 75k paper and also stringing for the AP. Have made $100 for slightly larger papers covering visiting teams when they came to my area.

 

[Football_Bat]

DMN: $55

FWST: $45

The DMN has been at $55 for a decade now. But going higher than that over a 10-game season means the total goes over $600, they send you a 1099, and the income has to be reported.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Stringer rates have actually gone down since I was in college. That's scary...

I have never gotten less than $50 for a gamer and that includes volleyball gamers back for tiny college papers in 1993.

 

[Clerk Typist]

DMN: $55

FWST: $45

The DMN has been at $55 for a decade now. But going higher than that over a 10-game season means the total goes over $600, they send you a 1099, and the income has to be reported.

The income has to be reported whatever amount is made, of course. The 1099 merely notifies the IRS that a reasonably significant amount has been made.

 

[GBNF]

I was just paid $125 for a 13-inch gamer that took about 12 minutes. Don't really understand why they offered so much. I'll take it.

 

[leo1]

i was last a stringer a few years ago, when i was getting from $75 to $150 for nfl, college and wnba gamers. the newark star ledger was the best paying major paper.

 

[Angola!]

The major metro I string for pays $55 for high school football for two or three paragraphs and a box score.

No wonder papers are going under.

The major metro you string for would be better served hiring an agate monkey and writing up two or three paragraphs off of a phone call.

$55 for two or three graphs is the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

My first year in the business I covered the state swimming championships for my paper, and a major metro from the other side of the state gave me $75 to get a couple quotes from three winning swimmers. All I had to do was e-mail the quotes, and they wrote the story off the quotes I provided. Easiest gig I ever had.

 

[daytonadan1983]

I'm averaging $75 a night.

Very bad trend -- basketball coverage is being cut. December - January used to be the heydey, now its September-November with football. And damn the AFL ownership -- the AFL was a nice income stream during the summer.

BTW, I too did high school football for $55 for 2-4 paragraphs, agate, and scoring updates. When kickoffs are 7:30, the teams are throwing 30 times a game and deadline is 10:45, we were getting paid for promptness.

 

[BB Bobcat]

Just got $125 for an 18 inch NFL sider for a major metro.

 

[Angola!]

BTW, I too did high school football for $55 for 2-4 paragraphs, agate, and scoring updates. When kickoffs are 7:30, the teams are throwing 30 times a game and deadline is 10:45, we were getting paid for promptness.

Promptness or not, it is a giant waste of money. Running two to three graphs on a game isn't going to sell papers anyway, so why spend that much money?

 

[Mark2010]

I was just paid $125 for a 13-inch gamer that took about 12 minutes. Don't really understand why they offered so much. I'll take it.

Did you actually sit there and watch the game?

Seriously, I'll get $50 per piece from a small daily and $75-100 from a larger one up the road, depending on whether its a gamer or feature. Truth be told, and i've told them this 100 times, stringers for regular season games are just a waste of money. If you're going to pay somebody, might as well get a halfway interesting feature that people might read.

Gamers you get from an SID or coaches' phone call.

 

[daytonadan1983]

The paper I worked for had my ``story'''' on the web within an hour....

 

[Dan Hickling]

You are a businessman...with a service to offer...you have to gauge what the traffic will bear, and if you find that you can't stay afloat by accepting lesser amounts, you have to make the hard decision and get out...if you can generate enough work and $$$ to make it work, then stick around and build your client base...but face facts because (to use a tired phrase) the facts are the bottom line and the bottom line is the bottom line...now...I will say this...the days of making a freelance living (even a modest one) by stitching together gigs from daily newspapers are over....I repeat, O-V-E-R ...you have to generate web and magazine business, and if your writing chops aren't up to those standards, then there are literally hundreds of freshly out of work professionals whose chops are...on the other hand, no matter how well you write, youe customer service skills (and priorities) have to be much better...After all, you're not in the journalism biz. That's been MY bottom line...

 

[Football_Bat]

DMN: $55

FWST: $45

The DMN has been at $55 for a decade now. But going higher than that over a 10-game season means the total goes over $600, they send you a 1099, and the income has to be reported.

The income has to be reported whatever amount is made, of course. The 1099 merely notifies the IRS that a reasonably significant amount has been made.

Of course.