Local High School Football News Coverage

[1amishfootballfan]

What will local high school sports news coverage look like in 5 years? Here in NOVA, the decline and disappearance of local newspapers has resulted in a slowly decreasing coverage of high school sports to the point of almost total disappearance.

As the newspapers downsized pages and staff, inevitably their sports reporters were cut and fewer and fewer stories were published. For example, as recently as 2012, The Fairfax Times and Connections Newspapers had sports reporters and had professional stories every week and in additon would run things like Top 10 lists and predictions. The reporters are gone and local sports stories are few and far between.

The Washington Post keeps cutting, and like ESPN their sports stories are focusing more on social issues rather than athletics themselves. For the first time ever, the WP has not run any high school football preseason previews (perhaps still coming?) – the only high school football stories they have run this month have chosen to spotlight high schools that have disbanded football programs.

Obviously, the advent of digital news to the point that most people are getting their news from hand-held devices is the driving factor behind this. I would like to think that there will always be a demand for local/community news – to include high school sports (not just football).

On the bright side, a growing number of internet/online sources do provide varying levels of coverage including video etc. Some drawbacks I see is that frequently the writing and stories are irregular and amateur and do not reflect any institutional memory. I think it will be harder to develop a community feel or support if the only place people will get high school sports news is a niche sports-only site that most likely has a paywall. It remains to be seen if local online news is more sustainable than hard copy.

I suppose the same thing could be said about local news in general (reduced coverage) and perhaps I am just being a grumpy old man that is not appreciating change. Maybe I should be happy I can see lots of video and photos and find info with a few clicks of a button – we certainly didn’t have Hudl, Twitter, etc. back in the 80s (or VAPreps). But when the Washington Post isn’t covering high school sports anymore it just doesn’t seem the same.

 

[757FridayNiteZ]

I think you hit on one reason for their decline. By editorializing nearly every article to fit their social agenda, the WP alienates 50 percent of their potential readership.

I will very likely discontinue our VA Pilot subscription for exactly the same issues. But their Sports reporting is Excellent!

Maybe it's time I put my money towards the things I enjoy most, huh?

 

[Red Neck]

I agree with the comments & assessments. However, there is another aspect that I've seen that impacts high school sports in NOVA (football in particular), and that's culture. I moved to Fairfax County in 1983 from Cumberland, MD, where high school football has the passion it does in Texas. I began attending high school football in NOVA (FFX County) ~ 1990. I was and have been so disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm & publicity compared to rural areas, such as Western MD who have had high school football radio broadcasts for well over 50 yrs, as well as TV (taped) playing throughout the week. I remember one game I went to at a FFX school and a parent was reading a WSJ. I wanted to slap it out of his hands, and tell him to 'get with the program'! I assumed he was a band parent, but maybe not...

My point is rural areas, like WMD, or Western NOVA, and WV (where I now live) the passion still burns for high school football, and you would never see someone reading a WSJ at a game. A number of games can be picked up on the radio too.

There is no comparison to the quality of players & coaches overall in NOVA (FFX & Loudon counties) compared to the rural areas I mentioned, but the passion from the schools and communities is definitely lacking compared to the rural, small town areas I grew up around, and that makes a big difference in the excitement of the games.

 

[757FridayNiteZ]

You only need to spend time in the 4A threads to see the comparison to which you speak. The passion, I think, comes from a football team's connection to their community. However, with the larger schools, it could be that several interests can achieve critical mass to distract kids and their parents away from football.

It's unfortunate for the kids too! That bond with their community in a smaller school gets lost when there are 3000 students.

 

[Red Neck]

You're absolutely right, 757. The 2015 & 2016 seasons had my alma matter, Fort Hill (1A), from Cumberland, MD go against Sherando. As you know, Sherando is 4A, and a lot of chatter was going on the 4A threads about that game, because Sherando was staked in 2015, and Fort Hill was coming off their 4th consecutive state championship. The 4A thread was pretty quiet after Fort Hill won decisively at Sherando, and again in 2016 at Fort Hill, as they were on their way to a 5th undefeated season and consecutive championship. I understand Sherando's mascot (a horse) died after the 2016 season, which I was sorry to hear. That was the coolest mascot, with someone dressed as an Indian riding it, I've ever seen. I would like to see that match up be on the schedule every year, but there was no interest in continuing it. Two communities passionate about their high school football. A rare occasion in NOVA.

 

[mbonape1]

I feel like the Richmond area has good enthusiasm and always had unless your program has been in the doghouse for 20 years. The high school product is competitive and intense in the 804. I know it is a pretty big deal in 757 after spending over 10 years there. I think the 757, 804 and western Va are more blue collar than NOVA historically. Maybe that has something to do with it as well. I will say that turnouts for playoff games seem good when states come from the NOVA teams. I guess the regular season enthusiasm is lacking up there.

 

[Red Neck]

Yep, mbonape1, that pretty much says it, and you make my point about "culture".

From my 30+ years watching NOVA football the Region Championship is consistently well attended from both sides.

 

[otnorot]

Newspapers are in steep decline and that is not changing anytime soon. Papers everywhere are cutting back on their staffing and coverage.

DC is an especially tough market for HS sports coverage since not only is it a niche topic to begin with, but the interest is split across several different states and the public and private schools are separate as well. Even among people who care about HS sports...MD/DC people have limited interest in reading about Stone Bridge or Westfield, VA people don't really care about Wise or Quince Orchard, WCAC people think all of it is beneath them. The more feature-heavy coverage (and recruiting-heavy coverage) has a better chance of attracting a broader audience, plus that's the ultimately the kind of stuff that advances the careers of the rookies who cover HS sports for the Post onto pro/college beats. It would be nice if the more locally focused suburban papers could fill in the gaps, but those are all dead or dying.

 

[otnorot]

The former NBC affiliate in Hagerstown, which has been expanding their coverage into the DC suburbs since losing their network affiliation, looks to be adding parts of Fairfax County to their HS sports coverage this year--see the "Countdown to Kickoff" features under the NOVA tab here:
http://www.localdvm.com/sports