How do we decide? Competitiveness, projected audience, distance, facilities, and future matchups. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
As we settle into the meat of the OHSAA football post-season, many have written, or asked in person, about how we choose some games and why not others. We’re happy to answer.
It is that time of the year when readers reach out to ask, “What playoff games will you be covering on Friday?”
One shared in an email on Tuesday, “I’m going to be out of town for the weekend and I’d like to follow the local team on Press Pros if you’re covering that game? Is there any way I can find out ahead of time?”
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Others are not so coy about it.
“I think it would be nice if you tried to cover more of schools instead of just the best teams,” one wrote. “I’m sure the kids and their families would appreciate it.”
Still another: “I can’t believe you drove all the way to Portsmouth last week for the Versailles game instead of doing a local school closer to home. Does that make sense?”
It’s not hundreds that we hear from, but at least one every week, frustrated, in their words, that their school never gets media coverage. And ‘never’ is a long time. Never? Really?
Understanding…the frustration is justified as a result of so many local newspapers having closed their doors, and more are doing it every day across the country. We get it, and we actually talk about it as a group, and begin to take notice of upcoming games that are both relevant and sensible weeks in advance.
Some share their frustration with the existing papers insisting on an online subscription (paywall) before you can read, even small papers from rural communities. To subscribe you must make your credit card information available, and from personal experience there’s enough fraud out there to make you think twice. Having your credit card stolen, replaced, and repairing monthly electronic debits are not worth the risk of one 99-cent chance taken to read about a football game. And one of the major reasons that Press Pros is popular is…there IS NO paywall. The site is made possible by local advertising support that makes reader access absolutely free. It always has been. Hopefully, it always will be.
So, some have recently asked how we go about choosing games to cover – or games not to cover – and is it possible to post earlier in the week the games that will be feature on Friday nights?
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Foremost in that decision is the fact of it being a competitive game. If we suspect that the final score is going to be 63-7 it’s not likely we’ll be there. It is, after all, a journalistic business, and people aside from followers of the team with 63 generally don’t log on to read about games like that.
Second, is it a relevant game? Sometimes even a prohibitive favorite like Marion Local is relevant in order to highlight a game yet to come next week, or beyond. And again, the factors we consider are competitive. Hands down, Marion Local is the most popular in terms of our general fan interest across Ohio because of their having won 15 state titles in 25 years. They’re the ’27 Yankees of high school football. Half the readership for MAC football actually comes from outside MAC country borders.
Third, distance of course. And while driving to Portsmouth is 2 hours and 47 minutes, it’s all highway driving – route 35 to 23, 23 to route 52 west, five miles down the river, and you’re there.
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Fourth, facilities matter. Press box, lights, internet quality, and parking are all considerations. A few years ago we covered a popular game in Division VI and had to park on the side of the road about a half mile from the school. And when I say on the side of the road…I mean in the ditch. That was a long walk with a lot of equipment.
And, post-game protocols…how easy is it to find coaches and players after the game? There has never been an official post-game interview process established by the OHSAA except for the championship finals in Canton. So many times you have to search the crowd, or the parking lot, or locker rooms to find the people to whom you want to talk. Depending on the school and team traditions, they often scatter like quail. Without question, coaches have been great over the years, except for one here and there, but unless they know you’re there beforehand, and you have the end of things planned from the beginning, it doesn’t always work.
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
To the frustration of those who would like for every team to get its just due, it simply doesn’t happen that way. People have always preferred reading about good competitive football on Saturday mornings. And if it were different it would have changed before now. It’s a business, not a weekend avocation. And there are only so many Press Pros writers to go around. Most newspapers today have as many as two on staff to cover local sports, if that many. We do the best we can with six on a given weekend…if they’re all available. Some have other gigs.
People have asked in the past…”Do you take requests, like disc jockeys?”
Yes, and sometimes game-time decisions are made on that basis. We do change our minds at the last minute. But to that person who asked about this weekend: You can expect St. Henry vs. Tri-Village…London vs. Valley View…Marion Local vs. Fort Loramie…and Tipp City vs. Goshen. All four meet the criteria…of competitiveness, projected audience, distance, facilities, familiarity, and future matchups.
That’s how it’s done, and sometimes we still get it wrong.