Writer for Buccaneers.com

[andyouare?]

Any idea what this kind of job would pay?

(From Buccaneers.com, under the employment tab)

Writer
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization seeks to hire a talented and experienced sports Writer to support our Public Relations and Web Site departments.

The position is responsible to prepare written content for the team’s official web site and game program.

The ideal candidate has a Bachelor’s Degree, 2 to 4 years experience writing sports related material for publication and experience providing content for a web site (experience may be gained while in college). Candidate must have excellent writing skills and attention to detail, an understanding of football and the NFL and the ability to thrive in a time-sensitive environment.

Due to the volume of resumes received, candidates should not mail or fax resumes. No phone calls, please.
 
Contact us about this position (attach resume in MS Word or PDF format)

 

[Ace]

My guess is 24K, but that's just a guess.

 

[JME]

Jeez, I'd hope it would be a lot more than that. Yuck.

 

[Still a Bulls fan]

YIKES!!! I agree.

 

[daemon]

If you all think newspapers pay poorly, try taking an entry or mid-level non-player personnel job in professional sports. You'll feel a lot better about your current situation.

 

[BH33]

I'd be shocked if this job pays more than 30K. In fact, I'd be shocked if it paid as much as 30K. I think 24K is a good ballpark figure.

 

[Song Seven]

considering that these multi-million dollar pro sports franchises won't even pay interns minimum wage, i wouldn't be surprised in the least to see this gig pay $24k.

 

[King_Cecil]

I'd do it for 23.

 

[joe king]

OK, I'll say it.

YOU'RE HIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ace]

Jeez, I'd hope it would be a lot more than that. Yuck.

Your clues here are:

1. Two to four years' experience (including college experience). They ain't looking for Peter King
2. You are preparing written content for the website and game program. Not exactly waxing breathless about the eloquence they expect to see.

Could be wrong. But it appears they are looking for a youngster to bat out press release type stories on the web. Not a bad gig, necessarily.

 

[JME]

Good points, Ace. Looking at it again, I'm sure you're right, actually.

 

[BNWriter]

Believe it or not.....22 Years ago, and just out of college, I had to move to FL from IL and I applied for just such a position with the Bucs when they were in Tangerine and playing badly. Did not get the job, but rather, a nice, "Good luck in your future" letter. I still have the letter.

Whether I would take the job now for 24K...? Couldn't say.

 

[KJIM]

22 years ago, what was the position? I mean, I'm guessing it wasn't for an online site. How did the team put out their stories then?

 

[wickedwritah]

Carrier pigeon, KJ, carrier pigeon.

 

[Trey Beamon]

I'm not applying until these come back...

 

[BNWriter]

Carrier pigeon, KJ, carrier pigeon.

Right you are, Wicked. The bad news is, back then, I was afraid of birds -- and losing teams wearing tangerine! LOL

 

[Norman Stansfield]

The NFL team I cover has gone through one of these website writers just about every season. Sure, it sounds glamorous because you're employed by the team and likely go on the road (this team's writer does), but the pay vs. workload is just atrocious. Hence the turnover.

 

[PressRowHack]

The NFL team I cover has gone through one of these website writers just about every season. Sure, it sounds glamorous because you're employed by the team and likely go on the road (this team's writer does), but the pay vs. workload is just atrocious. Hence the turnover.

Norm are you an AFC or NFC guy and when you say travel with the team, does that mean literally. I'm def. not applying, but just curious to hear some of the things that go on with a team (not a beat writer, but the actual team guy) writer.

 

[wickedwritah]

The NFL team I cover has gone through one of these website writers just about every season. Sure, it sounds glamorous because you're employed by the team and likely go on the road (this team's writer does), but the pay vs. workload is just atrocious. Hence the turnover.

I would imagine this is a good gig for a year or two -- you build some sources and make some connections, and you use the good clips you'll invariably have to line up another gig. Just like working at that 15k.

I guess you're part of the PR machine in this job, but I'm sure you have a chance to do some neat non-PR-y stories.

 

[Kritter47]

The amount of PR you write depends on the team. I interned as a staff writer at an NFL team's site, and we were told to write stories in the style of the local news outlets. The only thing we couldn't do is break news until it had been announced by the team since we, technically, were the "voice of the team" and anything we wrote could be reported as "The team says..."

But when our starting quarterback was released in training camp my first year, we could report he wasn't at practice, he was seen leaving the facility and his bags were at the front desk before the team had its midday press conference.

The workload depends on the team as well. For our site, we had at least two stories, a notes package and a column up every day, but we had a staff of four plus outside columnists. At home games, we had an AP-style halftime and post-game story up ASAP. After the games, we posted a game story, a sidebar or two, a column and a notes package. Road games were tough since they traveled with the team, and the stories had to be written on the plane. For road games, the guys that traveled got up the AP-style stories, a game story, note and a column.

The pay appeared to be decent enough to lure our lead guy and editor away from the big local papers. He also supplemented his income by doing radio three times a day with a local station. I'd bet similar opportunities are availabe in Tampa.