Joe Sullivan lost an arm wrestling match with a Boston Globe football writer over a Pro Bowl trip. Then he lost a coin flip with a basketball writer over an Orlando trip. Then he asked columnist Bob Ryan if ESPN could fund his British Open trip.
It was all part of a made-up fun video, but stretching a budget is very serious for many in attendance at an APSE convention session Friday called "Can We Still Afford to Cover the Big Event?"
The answer can still be "Yes," according to the Sullivan-led panel of Josh Barnett of the Philadelphia Daily News, Matt Pepin of the Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald-Record, Mike Persinger of the Charlotte Observer, and Reid Laymance of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"We have to ask how important are big events to readers," said Sullivan. "If they are, then find a way cover them and keep room in your budget."
Barnett’s first year on the job saw a World Series title by the Phillies and a surprise NFC title game trip by the Eagles. He said reporters should utilize every opportunity the destination offers. For example, the Daily News did interviews for a feature used later on an offseason personal trainer that quarterback Donovan McNabb sees in Phoenix when the paper covered the NFC title game in Glendale, Ariz. The woman also works with some Arizona Cardinals players and is convenient for McNabb when he’s there at his offseason home.
The Daily News also had its third Super Bowl reporter in Tampa do some early Phillies spring training reporting from the team’s site in nearby Clearwater.
"The emphasis is on Philadelphia, how we spend to benefit those readers and take them where they want to go," said Barnett. "We won’t go anywhere for enterprise if it’s only for one story. Reporters know they’re supposed to pick something else up on the way."
Pepin’s newspaper doesn’t cover big events generally. The paper didn’t staff the U.S. Open at Bethpage this month, even though the course is only at the other end of New York City.
Instead, the newspaer used local reactions to supplement the wires. His paper interviewed area golfers who’d played Bethpage and asked for their specific insights on holes. They also found local athletes who’d played in the NCAA tournament and ran that in March. A popular Olympic feature was to find local experts on each sport and ask them what they anticipated. A piece before the New York City Marathon focused on running in general.
Few of Pepin’s examples involved standard stories but leaned more toward alternative storytelling methods.
"We can write about the sport a lot, not just the event itself," said Pepin.
The Charlotte Observer underwent a transformation last year after its sale to McClatchy led to a merging of departments with its new sister paper across the state, the Raleigh News and Observer. Content sharing took on a whole new level, which actually freed up more resources for a staff with wide-ranging responsibilities.
"Reporters used to complain they couldn’t do enough enterprise," said Persinger. "Now they’re doing it."
Instead of having just 14 writers in Charlotte, Persinger now has 24 when Raleigh’s staff is included.
Charlotte’s staff now only covers the NFL’s Panthers, NASCAR, and the NBA’s Bobcats. It ceded the Atlantic Coast Conference except for Wake Forest and Clemson. Raleigh handles North Carolina, Duke, and North Carolina State plus the Hurricanes for both papers. That paper no longer has to come to Charlotte to do a feature on guard Ray Felton, according to Persinger.
He thought more sharing might be done later with other McClatchy papers in the Carolinas.
"It was a bit of a shotgun wedding," said Persinger. "We’re far enough apart that our interests are similar but we each have our own thing. The ACC overlap was a big one to overcome, and there can’t be any secrets. Our travel budgets were cut, but if you take the two papers as one it’s a little easier to deal with."
Laymance offered practical suggestions for saving money on travel. He said booking hotels far in advance is easy and free and can always be canceled. He said he’ll see who wins the All-Star game then book hotels in potential World Series cities based on the score. For example, if he knows Games 3, 4, and 5 will be in the American League because it lost home-field advantage in the All-Star game, he might book Boston, New York, Chicago, or wherever knowing the rates will only increase and availability decrease once the teams are determined. Suburban hotels can also help, as places like Westchester, N.Y., likely cost less than Manhattan.
Since the Post-Dispatch’s 50 cents per-mile driving reimbursement can be a budget killer, writers will often rent a car to drive if it’s cheaper. Laymance also said frequent National League Central trips to Cincinnati can be tough, so his Cardinals’ writer will fly to Louisville, maybe enjoy seeing some horses, then drive to Cincinnati in a rental car.
No expense can be too small – Laymance liked using Courtyard Marriotts with free Internet access, saving $10 a day.
Having a willing staff always helps. Columnist Bernie Miklasz doesn’t charge the Post-Dispatch at all for his travels.
"He’s found a way to make it a tax writeoff for himself," said Laymance. "I’m sure he wouldn’t do it if it weren’t a good deal somehow."
