Tennessean's Lack Of Coverage

[trnbrant]

I am here neither to defend the Tennessean nor to praise it.

 

It ultimately comes down to what sells papers (or in the case of where I work, what interests listeners and keeps them from going elsewhere).

 

The Nashville Predators hockey team is one of only 3 teams in the nearly 100 year old NHL to start the season 8 and oh. On the sports talk show on my station it's STILL getting buried because people want to talk about how bad the Titans/Vols are.

 

When the 5-11 Titans put tickets on sale in July the entire season still sold out in a matter of hours. The three most recent soccer events (including the U-S women's team) at the Coliseum the empty seats FAR outnumbered people in the stands.

 

Soccer is here to stay. There is no doubt about it. However, it's destined to remain a fringe sport in markets where there are major sports that have more interest (football, etc) AND that interest has been there for decades.

 

Chattanooga's coverage is stronger b/c they don't have pro sports to cover in the city and they only have one mid-level college program. When I worked in a small town T-V station I frequently shot soccer games of both genders. You would never see those types of highlights in a city the size of Nashville.

 

For the soccer die-hards, I'm sorry but don't expect your sport to get 4 pages of coverage every Saturday morning anytime soon.

[mjuhb]

they are giving update's so thats good

[peterw]

Even before the Predators and Titans came to town, Chattanooga was outdoing Nashville in high school soccer coverage. It's what sells newspapers as trnbrant said.

 

That said, I tend to think it's more of a regional thing. The closer you get to the Atlanta area, the better the high school soccer coverage is because there is more interest. Same in Memphis. Compared to Middle Tennessee, they are soccer hotbeds.

 

P.S. The Preds going 8-0 so far is INCREDIBLE! I haven't missed a game. It's so disappointing to hear everyone call in to radio shows to discuss the Titans and the Vols.

[Hoya]

I spend a lot of time in Knoxville, and the soccer coverage there is also weak. But they are a much smaller city than Nashville and have an excuse. There are enough people in the 22nd biggest city in America interested in high school soccer to warrant the publishing of better and more frequent writeups.

 

Maybe no one cared in 1985 when there were 6 teams, but in 2005 with 227 girls programs in Tennessee, it's much, much bigger than some realize!

 

Chattanooga even does scoring leaders from the area like the Tennessean does football stats.

 

In Knoxville it's getting better. For about 3 years the Knoxville News-Sentinel has published a high school sports section called PrepXtra. It appears once per week and includes local soccer stories as well as information on soccer scoring and goal keeping stats that are updated weekly during the season. There are also pull down versions of the leaderboards on the KNS website. The leaderboards are available seperated by division (AAA, A/AA and DII), offense (goals, assists or total points) and goal keeping as well as in a combined format across all divisions. The KNS also sponsors two different soccer all-star teams. The most elite team is the KNS "All-PrepXtra" team which includes players from both Knoxville and the surrounding area. In addition, there is an "All-KIL" team comprised of only Knox County players. In addition, all three television stations are now taking cameras to the "big" games where some kind of title is on the line. Coverage has improved a good bit in recent years. It has a ways to go to suit me, but I do think an effort is being made.

[Bighurt]

From talking to sportswriters and a media people, Brant is right on. The Tennessean's perception is that Titans, Predators, UT and Vandy coverage sells more newspapers than coverage of high school sports. That's the bottom line.

 

Jessica Hopp would do a wonderful job of covering high school soccer if that was what she assigned to write about every day but it is not. Doug Dyer, Jeff Lockridge, etc. can only write about the events they are sent to cover.

 

Until The Tennessean becomes convinced that they will sell more newspapers by writing about high school soccer than writing about what Jeff Fisher had for breakfast, that is the way it is going to be.

[flashgordon]

I am here neither to defend the Tennessean nor to praise it.

 

It ultimately comes down to what sells papers (or in the case of where I work, what interests listeners and keeps them from going elsewhere).

 

The Nashville Predators hockey team is one of only 3 teams in the nearly 100 year old NHL to start the season 8 and oh. On the sports talk show on my station it's STILL getting buried because people want to talk about how bad the Titans/Vols are.

 

When the 5-11 Titans put tickets on sale in July the entire season still sold out in a matter of hours. The three most recent soccer events (including the U-S women's team) at the Coliseum the empty seats FAR outnumbered people in the stands.

 

Soccer is here to stay. There is no doubt about it. However, it's destined to remain a fringe sport in markets where there are major sports that have more interest (football, etc) AND that interest has been there for decades.

 

Chattanooga's coverage is stronger b/c they don't have pro sports to cover in the city and they only have one mid-level college program. When I worked in a small town T-V station I frequently shot soccer games of both genders. You would never see those types of highlights in a city the size of Nashville.

 

For the soccer die-hards, I'm sorry but don't expect your sport to get 4 pages of coverage every Saturday morning anytime soon.

Not necessarily...Chattanooga has always staked out a major place for prep sports...even its own section in the paper...this goes back to well before Nashville was "blessed' with the opportunity to make several professional team owners even more wealthly with our tax dollars!!!

Edited October 26, 2005 by flashgordon

[trnbrant]

From talking to sportswriters and a media people, Brant is right on. The Tennessean's perception is that Titans, Predators, UT and Vandy coverage sells more newspapers than coverage of high school sports. That's the bottom line.

 

Jessica Hopp would do a wonderful job of covering high school soccer if that was what she assigned to write about every day but it is not. Doug Dyer, Jeff Lockridge, etc. can only write about the events they are sent to cover.

 

Until The Tennessean becomes convinced that they will sell more newspapers by writing about high school soccer than writing about what Jeff Fisher had for breakfast, that is the way it is going to be.

 

I just got the update... It was a bowl of wheaties mixed with a freshly sliced banana with a cup of skim milk

 

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

[kickgrass]

I agree with Flash that prior to Titans and Predators the Tennessean didn't cover High School sportswell either. The Banner did a much better job with the preps and used to have "all-star" teams for each of the sports. The Tennessean covers it just enough so when you complain they can quote several articles that they have published.

 

I think the majority could care less about High School girls soccer. Personally I like to read about it and stay informed, but chances are if you are in this message board you are too. At some point Newspapers went from providing a service to keep people informed by printing the news, to promoting their political agenda and becoming profit machines. So if a teenage girl kicking a ball around can't sell advertising then forget it. But, if she would take a gun to school they would write an article about it.

 

This would have been a year to print a bunch about High Schools, Vandy is bein Vandy again, The Big Orange has shriveled on the Vine, The Titans are becoming tiny and unwatchable, so why not give the people something that has some interest value. Or rather maybe I could get more articles about professional athletes that have a sore toe or can't quit smoking pot.

 

I better get down I'm starting to get dizzy up here on this soapbox

[BigG]

When the newspapers DO run the articles, do you let them know that you appreciate them doing so? I encourage our parents to write to the paper, the editor, and the writer, thanking them for the coverage. Sometimes good relations can really help.