The depressing truth: The decline of print media in sport

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I'm the one who gets away
I'm the New Jersey success story
And they'll say,
'Lord, give me a chance to shake his hand'

-"Big Casino" by Jimmy Eat World


"Welcome to Jurassic Park. Who plays at this venue? The almost-extinct print media industry."

That's how I began my research paper on the decline of print media in sport.

This summer I took Financing Sport Operations at York College of Pennsylvania as part of my undergraduate sport management major. One of my assignments was to research a topic pertaining to sport finance. As an aspring sportswriter and current sports editor for York College's newspaper, The Spartan, and founder of York College Sport Management's monthly Sport Management Insider (SPMI) publication, it did not take me long at all to figure out what that topic would be.

After contacting my sources and hearing (and reading) what they had to say, I felt somewhat depressed to be honest. I was not hearing much positive feedback regarding print media's future.

On Feb. 21, Philadelphia Newspapers, L.L.C., which owns The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com, filed for bankruptcy protection, according to Philly.com. $390 million in debt, the lack of advertising revenue, the rising cost of newsprint and the switch of readers to the Internet forced the company to file the voluntary chapter 11 claim.

A month earlier, The Minneapolis Star Tribune filed for bankruptcy. A week earlier, The Journal Register Co., which was $13 billion in debt, filed for bankruptcy. A few days before that, the New York Times Co. suspended its dividends in order to stay afloat. According to CNN.com, even the chain that owns the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune are going bankrupt.

These companies are lucky. Why? Because they still exist.

The Rocky Mountain News, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and at least 120 other newspapers in the U.S. have already folded since January 2008. More, such as the Ann Arbor News, have announced its final issues.

Papers like The Bay City Times and the Charlotte Observer chose to publish print editions only on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, and cut staff by 14.6 percent and reduce pay, respectively, to stay in operation.

The San Francisco Chronicle is on a downfall, and if it persists, San Francisco will be the first major U.S. city without a chief daily newspaper.

Two possible reasons for the decline are the current recession and the rise of other media routes. Brendan Wilhide, the founder of the Web site and online blog, SportsIn140.com, said he believes the decline is due to the emergence of the Internet and blogs.

"I think the Internet really kills print media for two reasons," Wilhide said. "I can get my news at a moment's notice at any time of day, with the latest news always available, and I believe newspapers are having a very difficult time selling classified ads."

Steve Heiser, sports editor for The York Dispatch, agrees the Internet has made a bigger impact, especially in the long term.

"The recession just made an already tough situation even worse," Heiser said.

How has the coverage of sports been affected by the decline of print media? Most newspapers have focused its coverage more intently on local and regional coverage, Heiser said. SportsBusiness Journal senior writer, Bill King, showed his concern the decline has on sports, saying fewer writers means less coverage. Less coverage cannot be good for sports, can it?

"If your athletes don't have a city's name on their uniforms, you're getting hammered," King said. "Papers are cutting way back on motorsports and golf coverage. They're expensive to cover and there's not the natural connection to a city or market that exists with a baseball, football, basketball or hockey team."

If the decrease in writers has not reduced sports coverage enough, the cost of travel will.

"Covering sports means travel. Travel can be expensive - a lot more expensive than covering the county commission," King said.

The sports information director at York College, Scott Guise, said many SIDs rely on "wiring" information because of costs. Steve Donohue of the SportsBusiness Journal reported sports properties are going as far as discounting hotel rooms to help with travel expenses of sportswriters. With the decline not only affecting the U.S., Major League Soccer also funds air travel costs for reporters in Latin America.

Along with golf and motorsports, NASCAR has also been heavily impacted by the decline, Donohue said. NASCAR's efforts to keep the sport in the print media and other outlets include video interviews with drivers after the races, as well as the requiring of drivers to remain available for conference calls every Tuesday. This also helps reporters who can no longer afford the trips to the track.

Two North Texas newspapers, The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, have joined up to split the coverage of the Texas sports teams to allow both papers to reduce expenses, eliminate duplicative stories and still maintain "high quality exclusive coverage our readers have come to expect," according to The News.

What is the future of the print media industry? King said he believes it is important to remember what we are talking about is "print media" - the printed word.

"I believe the future is content that's similar to that which newspapers have produced for a century - only delivered to desktop or laptop or kindle or iPhone or cell or whatever devices might emerge," King said.

"The question is: Who on the current print media landscape has the legs to hang around long enough to be there when the economy rebounds and advertising revenue migrates in that direction?"

Whatever the future of print media, there is one constant that almost everyone with which I have spoken has mentioned: Print media still has some hope because people are so used to holding a publication in their hands.

John Ourand is the media reporter for SportsBusiness Journal. Advice he offers aspiring writers in an industry on a decline is to think beyond just print newspapers and magazines.

"There are plenty of opportunities that exist with solely online pubs. That's why [Todd] Zolecki moved from The [Philadelphia] Inquirer to MLB.com," Ourand said.

"My first job was in newspapers, and now I write for a magazine. I have an emotional attachment to holding those publications in my hands. But I could be just as happy working for an online site that doesn't have a print component to it. And right now [in terms of quality], I don't see much of a difference between the two."

Maybe there is still hope for sportswriters and sport publications after all. However, the most promising advice I received while conducting my research came from one of my mentors at York College, sports information intern Brent Duffy.

"There will always be people who want to write - especially about sport."

Well, there will always be people who want to read about sport. And so I will continue to write for my college's newspaper and operate SPMI so maybe some day some little kid will pick up a newspaper, see my name about the front page article, and say, "Lord, give me a chance to shake his hand."

But just to play it safe, I will also continue to post these blogs.