The first time Tommy Deas and his staff knocked around online ideas for this year’s high school football preview was in late May or early June – he doesn’t remember for sure.
 
Judged a top 10 website by APSE last year, Deas’ Tuscaloosa News prides itself on thinking online first, and tries to plan an Internet component with every project it does. The football preview was no different.
 
“I think two or three years ago was the tipping point for our operation,” Deas, The News’ Sports Editor, said. “Since then we’ve done pretty well. I think we’ve been ahead of the curve online in a lot of different ways.”
 
So later this week, when its football preview hits the streets, expect the presentation on tuscaloosanews.com to be comprehensive. There’ll be blogs and videos, rosters and schedules, and other fun stuff, too.
 
“We’re setting up some places where fans can go pregame to talk smack,” Deas said. “We’re pretty excited about it all.”
 
As excited as what they’re doing in print?
 
“No, I wouldn’t say that,” Deas said. “We’re doing a 60 page tab – actually, it’s got a glossy cover, so it’s more of a magazine. People look forward to that section every year.”
 
Call it a holding strong to tradition, or call it a backlash against the Internet culture. But even while news organizations are increasingly tailoring content for the web, many are continuing to commit hours and newsprint to their high school football previews, with the Internet serving as support.
 
In Glens Falls , N.Y., for example, the Post-Star has shifted much of its daily focus online. For high school sports, that means instant updates on psvarsity.com, usually before the news goes to print.
 
But for their football previews they’ve taken a different strategy.
 
“The high school football preview is something we intentionally don’t put online until after it’s been in print,” said Post-Star Sports Editor Greg Brownell. “We feel like we still put out a pretty good print preview. And we still get a lot of calls asking when that’s going to be out. So we feel like it’s something people still want to see in the paper.”
 
Even though its special section comes out less than a week after another big event – the Little League World Series – Williamsport. Pa.. Sports Editor Ben Brigandi says his paper’s high school football preview is still a big draw. And like Glens Falls, information from the product doesn’t go online first.
 
“I think we experience a little bit of advertiser fatigue after the Little League World Series – businesses that don’t want to spend money on both that and the football preview,” Brigandi said. “But instead of maybe selling full page ads, we sell a lot of credit card size ads that go below schedules, so people can cut them out and keep them.”
 
The continued popularity of print football previews is not exclusive to smaller papers. Matt Bracken, Deputy Sports Editor Digital at the Baltimore Sun, said his paper still does a print preview as a keepsake. “You see your kid's name in the paper, there are good photos of the team you follow – it’s a momento that can last forever,” he said.
 
Paul Skrbina, High Schools Editor at the Chicago Tribune, said that the previews are a chance to really connect with individual communities.
 
“It's something fans of those schools can carry around all year. So the ads have a little more staying power,” he said.
 
Even Kevin Spain, the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s Online Sports Editor whose focus is almost exclusively on the paper’s Internet product, said the print preview is an important part of the equation.
 
“Our High Schools Editor Trey Iles and our Assistant Online Sports Editor Jennifer Armstrong have worked really hard to make sure that we’ve got a very good online presentation for the football preview,” Spain said. “We’ve learned a lot over the past couple years about how to present this stuff, and we feel like we did a good job with it this year.
 
“But the main goal is to give the information to people in whatever format they desire.”
 
Spain, Deas and others said they’ll continue to explore ways to improve their high school football presentation online. That is, after all, the direction the industry is heading.
 
But, at least for now, the popularity print previews hold with both readers and advertisers papers will prompt papers to run the presses.
 
“I can tell you that our (print product) made $95,000 in advertising revenue this year,” Miami Herald Sports Editor Jorge Rojas said. “So we’ll keep doing them as long as they’re making money.
 
“Why wouldn’t we?”
 
Editor's note: Newspaper sports editors who wish to participate in the third annual exchange of football preview sections can do so by contacting Antelope Valley Press Sports Edior Toby Carrig at tcarrig@avpress.com. In each of the last two years, about 20 newspapers of various market sizes participated in the exchange. By sending in copies of your section, you get to check out the work of some other papers, which usually includes some APSE award-winning special sections.
 
It's a good way to see what other papers are doing and get some inspiration for future special sections.
 
Here’s how it works:
 
Those who agree to participate can send Carrig about 20 copies of their football special sections by Sept. 21.
 
In return, those who participate will receive 20 different editions.
 
Can’t scrape up 20? That’s OK, you can still be included and receive the number back that you send in.
 
Mail sections to:
Toby Carrig, Sports
Antelope Valley Press
P.O. Box 4050, Palmdale, CA 93590
or, for shipping:
37404 Sierra Highway, Palmdale, CA 93550
 
The goal will be to mail sections back out to everyone in early October.
The more the merrier!
 
 

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