Charlotte Observer coverage

A reader sent me a long sarcastic email this morning detailing coverage. He asked me to visit here and I read through the long post on us. I wanted to try to answer some questions here.

I wrote a long post but the board kicked me out and deleted it, so rather than try to go back through all that, I'll just try to respond to what you post here.

I'd also invite you to sign up for my facebook and twitter pages and help me get a live feed going for the playoffs like I did with football and basketball.

 

Welcome back my friend. You know how it goes. It's the yearly complaints from the baseball crowd...same as the year you visited us before. Last year, Cliff addressed this.

There are some legitimate concerns expressed that I thank you for taking the time to address.

Two that quickly come to mind.

- With the financial concerns at most newspaper business, how has this affected the sports section at the Charlotte Observer, specifically spring sports?

- People have brought up the domination of football and basketball reports in season at the expense of other HS sports being played at that time. But when asked about baseball, the reply is usually that you have to balance coverage with other spring sports. Obviously, with this being a baseball forum, we feel we stand on equal footing with interest compared to football and basketball.

We will painfully admit that those are the "money" sports and blogs are created to discuss what's going on with the recruits. But I will submit that the interest in "America's Past time" is not that far behind.

Here is what has changed over the years. In 2002 there were only 2 players in all of Charlotte that were recruited to play in the ACC. Because of the advent of Showcase ball (like AAU in basketball), in 2005, there were 9 scholarship players on one team alone. This pattern is played out yearly all across our state.

The College World Series has become a "Big Ticket" for schools and with TV covering the college games, it's become a new revenue resource for colleges. Believe me, with all the schools building new complexes (many built with tens of million dollars) the interest in college baseball is at an all time high. Baseball America has ranked North Carolina 3rd in the quality of baseball players--behind California and Texas--in the entire country.

High School is on a fast track rise in interest and we would like the Charlotte Observer to partner in that rise.

I know I may have gotten off track, but I thought I would give this thread a start.

By the way, there were many human interest stories this year.

 

hey, langston.

 

Something else that has changed dramatically. The last time you came here we were a Charlotte area website with around a couple hundred thousand hits. Now we have members in every county in this state with over 10 million hits.....the internet is beautiful

 

- With the financial concerns at most newspaper business, how has this affected the sports section at the Charlotte Observer, specifically spring sports?

Um, I started at the paper in 1988, fresh of Chapel Hill. We had more than 350 people in the uptown newsroom and 12 folks solely dedicated to covering 96 or 97 high schools in western NC and upper state SC. With the Great Recession, we've cut the newsroom staff about in half and our prep staff is 1/12th of what it was, though we have added some full time reporters in our weekly News of the Region sections.

How does that affect coverage? Well we have less space and now 125 schools. We have 35 schools I think in Mecklenburg vs. about 16 when I started that we covered. There are more sports and we've added pro football and basketball and Charlotte has become a major league town. That's a lot to balance with less space. Everyone has to do more with less.

That's why I've tried to create the pre- and post-game Gameday packages, to try to touch a lot of bases quickly.

And in spring with eight gazillion sports, the choices become much harder.

- People have brought up the domination of football and basketball reports in season at the expense of other HS sports being played at that time. But when asked about baseball, the reply is usually that you have to balance coverage with other spring sports. Obviously, with this being a baseball forum, we feel we stand on equal footing with interest compared to football and basketball.

We have to balance cross country and volleyball and tennis and golf with football, which is only played on Friday. We have to balance wrestling and swimming with basketball. I wouldn't agree with you about the equal footing thing.

Baseball, especially pro, is becoming regionalized. TV numbers are way down. The NCAA World Series had a ratings jump last year to like 850,000 viewers. The Final Four hoops averaged 15 million. The football national championship did more than 26 million.

We will painfully admit that those are the "money" sports and blogs are created to discuss what's going on with the recruits. But I will submit that the interest in "America's Past time" is not that far behind.

Football and basketball "drive the bus" for high school athletics. At many schools, baseball is not the third highest revenue driver, either. I'm not sure why baseball isn't as popular. Maybe it's expense or trouble getting kids together for games or maybe as football and basketball have become year-round sports, it's siphoned off athletes who normally would play baseball in spring. Not sure. But I love the purity of the game. The other sports have lost some of that.

Here is what has changed over the years. In 2002 there were only 2 players in all of Charlotte that were recruited to play in the ACC. Because of the advent of Showcase ball (like AAU in basketball), in 2005, there were 9 scholarship players on one team alone. This pattern is played out yearly all across our state.

Yes, we've tried to cover some of that fantastic talent and we have a story coming Friday on another.

The College World Series has become a "Big Ticket" for schools and with TV covering the college games, it's become a new revenue resource for colleges. Believe me, with all the schools building new complexes (many built with tens of million dollars) the interest in college baseball is at an all time high. Baseball America has ranked North Carolina 3rd in the quality of baseball players--behind California and Texas--in the entire country.

The College World Series did a 1.0 rating, as I showed above. Baseball players still aren't getting full scholarships, for the most part, from colleges. I wish the sport well, but it's got a ways to rise.

High School is on a fast track rise in interest and we would like the Charlotte Observer to partner in that rise.

I know I may have gotten off track, but I thought I would give this thread a start.

By the way, there were many human interest stories this year.[/QUOTE]

I love human interest stories. I've been asking coaches all year for ideas. If you guys have some, please shoot them to me. Now that's one thing I don't care about: if it's a good story, I don't care if it's shoe-tying or jump rope, I want to tell it.

 

Wow, Larry sure did start something special, huh? Congratulations. I've been spending too much time at ncpreps and carolinapreps. I need to stop by here more often. The post counts do look great.

Keep up the good work!

 

What's going on Larry D. How's stuff?

 

Langston, It looks to me that every time I open the sports page of the Charlotte Observer there's coverage of Audrey Kell and Providence but no other teams. I understand cut backs in staff and more schools to cover but I wished coverage would be spread around a little.

 

Thanks LW for responding.

My fault. I didn't express myself clearly. I was referring to baseball in season and comparing its popularity with football and basketball to the sports it competes against for coverage. I guess you are referring to s****r as the sport that competes for revenue. Sorry, I can't even spell that word.

Football is KING!!!! No argument there.

Baseball will never be the TV king again. The Fast Food culture cannot sit at home for 3-4 hours on a summer night to watch a game. Kids are out of school!!! They want to play! However, according to information provided to The Biz of Baseball by the league, gross revenues were $6.6 billion for 2009, a record figure for MLB. By comparision, the news that MLB saw record revenues for 2009 falls on the heels of the National Basketball Association reporting that it was $400 million in the red last season. Revenues for the NFL were $7.6 billion for the 2008-09 season. The NHL topped $2.6 billion in revenues for the 2008-09 season.

The actual numbers of the College World Seies reported by ESPN is this: ESPN, which has televised baseball’s College World Series for all 30 years of the network’s existence, reports that the 11-day session that just ended in Omaha was the most-viewed and highest-rated in its history.
The network averaged a 1.5 rating, representing 1.45 million households and 1.928 million viewers. That’s a 36 percent rise in rating from last year (1.1).
The three-game championship series, helped by an extraordinarily light Major League Baseball schedule, got a 2.1 rating, the highest since the CWS changed to its best-of-3 format in 2003. The rating number was 24 percent higher than last year (1.7).

My point about that is it is increasing while being shown on a cable network. Just think if it was hyped like NCAA March to Madness and shown on national TV. I bet the numbers would be consistent to this: The entire NCAA Basketball tournament averaged a 6.6 overnight rating.

Don't get me wrong; I love the NCAA basketball playoffs, but the product has changed and it continues to enjoy the fruits of the past years' success (if I have to watch one more Bird vs Magic highlight, I would have been sick.) Apparently, the success of college basketball has not transcended to success in the NBA. One may wonder if the overall dismal lack of success in the NBA may filter back to college if some changes aren't made soon--like the one and done college kid.

That's an interesting topic. Football certainly has the highest revenue and also the largest expense. It will be interesting to watch if CMS is forced to go to "pay to play." In my opinion, basketball is the cash cow.

and at many schools it is. Most athletes and all sports have gone year round. Baseball starts in January and ends in November. December is used for workouts and camps.

and some of the baseball boosters lead their school in revenue. If Hal Bagwell wants new baseball lights at a cost of $100 grand, all he has to do is ask. If Olympics needs an upgrade to their football field---tough (saw that example tonight on TV.)

HS baseball is a different game than 8-10 years ago. It has lost some of its purity as well. Forget the full scholarship/half scholarships argument. Most baseball players make up the difference with academic and pell grants. The parents sacrifice their families all summer and fall folowing their son all over the country to watch him play....and love every dime spent for the memories and helping their child with opportunities.

The negative aspect to HS baseball is the perception of the sport becoming "elite", much like golf. The perception is you have to be rich to play or you are left behind.

Except for a rare few, coaches are the worst to ask for human interest stories. Many are so tunnel visioned on other things.

The funny things is...and not to plug his paper...but South Charlotte Reporter always has great human interest stories posted...nearly every week. He doesn't get them from the coaches.

Anyway, I'm always glad to see you back here posting--even if it takes this kind of topic to bring you back. You have always done a fantastic for Prep sports and you've always been a standup guy.

 

Thanks Langtson for responding,,, but I don't think nobody disputes the numbers of growth (population/schools/even sports) over the years, or the cutbacks, or the popularity nationwide of baseball in general. Frankly, I don't live in Meck Co, never have, so you don't owe me squat, but I only wonder about this issue because I (like Braves) have seen this incredible explosion in the HS baseball talent in the Meck Co area over the last 10 years and other than a random article every now and then on a big name, the CO has missed most of it.

Here's my question, with all the growth, cutbacks and lack of interest in baseball,,, the CO manages to look more like a smalltown paper during football and basketball season,,, yet certain other local smalltown papers still manage to do well during baseball season also (ref to Salisbury Post or Shelby Star). Can you see why folks have a question about why they don't get the same coverage from the CO? And please don't respond with the regional big city vs. smalltown answer, because there's Panther fans in Salisbury and Shelby also. People can get pro sports news anywhere online nowadays, that dog just don't hunt no more with the popularity of the internet.

I would like to here your comment or opinion on how these smalltown papers do it? Thanks.