May 17, 2009
The possible elimination of printed media guides for Southeastern Conference and all Division I teams will be discussed at the SEC spring meetings, which start May 25 in Destin.
For Vanderbilt fans that have purchased these books and National Commodore Club members accustomed to receiving them as a perk of membership, the possibility of moving the guides online is significant.
“We want our fans to understand what is going on and why,” said Vanderbilt Director of External Relations Rod Williamson.
SEC Associate Commissioner Charles Bloom said the possible changes are primarily about budgetary concerns.
“The rationale behind this legislation is to move everything online,” Bloom said. “When we talk about the budget shortfalls that people are having, and a way to cut money out of the budget, media guides are seen as one of the first things that athletic administrations look at to cut money.”
There is a very good chance that the books will be eliminated sometime in the next year and possibly immediately. The spring meetings will involve discussion between school athletic directors and SEC officials, and the conference will attempt to move legislation on media guides forward to be voted on by the NCAA, Bloom said.
Media guides have evolved a great deal over the past 50 years, from initially being simple, “just-the-facts” pamphlets for beat reporters to becoming important recruiting tools, numbering in the hundreds of pages. Along with statistics and history on the team, guides have served as selling points for their respective schools.
Culminating in competition between schools to create longer and more expensive guides to impress recruits, that aspect of it has sounded alarm bells around the country and led to discussion about the recruiting power of the guides at the conference and national levels.
“There’s a difference between information and a 16-page signature on beauty pictures of the campus,” Williamson said.
On the other hand, Bloom said he was torn on whether the positives of the cost-cutting legislation will be outweighed by losing it in the printed format.
“There’s a part of me, the old-fashioned part of me, that says people still like to hold something in their hands and read an article,” Bloom said. “I think, while this legislation will do away with the recruiting aspect of it, that there is some value in the printed product.
“Media guides, in my view, have been one of the essentials. It’s probably not the most important thing that we do as media relations professionals, but it’s one of the essentials to get the facts and figures on your institutions’ sports programs to the media.”
(Editor’s Note: David Rutz is a rising senior at Vanderbilt and is the Sports Editor of the Vanderbilt Hustler. He is serving as a summer intern in the Athletic Communications Office.)