Ohio State, Michigan to Cease Printing Media Guides

[Longdog]

An Inside Higher Ed article, "Small Step Back from brink of College Sports 'Arms Race,'" notes that rivals Ohio State and Michigan announced they will no longer print sports media guides, saving around a quarter of a million dollars a year, citing "changes in how consumers -- notably fans and recruited athletes -- want their information."

The AD at Ohio State says he hopes other schools will do likewise as a cost-containment measure as well as the rapidly changing "media conumption" structure.

Read the long paragraph at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/05/29/qt#199968

[Abominable Gorilla]

Don't you have to buy those? I guess they're counting on people to purchase the online subscription instead?

[DAWG DUDE]

Lets just stop playing with helmets.

[JuBru]

Good move. Media guides have ALWAYS been a waste, imo.

[Longdog]

Media guides were just that, guides to assist the media in covering your school's athletics with info about personnel, schedules, records, etc. Then it escalated into being show pieces, each attempting to out-do the other.

It also became a bonus for financial backers as well as selling a few.

Now, with the media able to select, copy and paste on-line there really isn't any need for the expense of printing them on paper.

[Dawgpix]

Good move. Media guides have ALWAYS been a waste, imo.

On a deadline when the internet is down in these pressboxes, (or we don't have to time to surf) it is NOT A WASTE OF TIME to reach for the media guide for pertinent info on an event that just became a record breaker.

[JuBru]

On a deadline when the internet is down in these pressboxes, (or we don't have to time to surf) it is NOT A WASTE OF TIME to reach for the media guide for pertinent info on an event that just became a record breaker.

I have no disagreement with something needed for the media. Just disagree with everything else related to them.

[TechsasDawg]

On a deadline when the internet is down in these pressboxes, (or we don't have to time to surf) it is NOT A WASTE OF TIME to reach for the media guide for pertinent info on an event that just became a record breaker.

Does this mean that the "media" guys don't have enough sense to print out a copy of the records and have them in their hip pocket??? Boy Scouts taught me to "Be Prepared"!

TD
~~

[olddog75]

Does this mean that the "media" guys don't have enough sense to print out a copy of the records and have them in their hip pocket??? Boy Scouts taught me to "Be Prepared"!

TD
~~

Come on, the media has to worry about weather they are serving shrimp or crab legs at the media buffet. :icon_wink:

[ChipDog]

I love mine and I hope Tech never does away with them. The NCAA already imposes many rules on the printing of them - including number of color pages and quantity. Rus is correct - it is the fasted way for an anouncer to get interesting facts about a team and its players.

[Dawgpix]

Does this mean that the "media" guys don't have enough sense to print out a copy of the records and have them in their hip pocket??? Boy Scouts taught me to "Be Prepared"!

TD
~~

We are "prepared". That's why we have our media guides (with a copy of the records) at our fingertips.

[TechsasDawg]

We are "prepared". That's why we have our media guides (with a copy of the records) at our fingertips.

You forgot to notice that the post was in response to what happens if the media guide is no longer being published. Me thinks you answered the wrong question!!!


TD
~~

[Dawgpix]

I'd love to have an old media guide (which used to fit in the back pocket).

[VolDawg]

They will still be published. There just won't be a printed version of them available to the general public (or more importantly, recruits).

For schools like Michigan or Ohio State that publish 50,000+ football media guides, that's a big chunk. And when you print a fancy media guide for one sport, you're kind of obligated to do them all, even though there is pretty much no need whatsoever for golf, tennis, track, swimming, equestrian, etc. There's no media covering those sports and the only use for those whatsoever is recruiting.

I agree with Dawgpix, it's very nice to have a hard copy of records, stats, etc., right at your fingertips. And I think those will still be available on game day most places. They just won't have glossy covers and 150 pages of pictures of the weight room. It will be more like professional teams' media guides with little more than player bios, stats, records and history. You know...a MEDIA guide. Not a "recruiting" guide.