MLS and Print Media

Consider this part two of the "Revenge of the Nerds" post. It was originally part of that piece, but got split out when I went in a different direction.

On the same day Whittall equated his blogging baptism with having a first period (his post is titled, "Are you there MLS? It's me, Richard"), Tom Dunmore over at Pitch Invasion lamented the shameful state of print coverage for his hometown Chicago Fire. The lamentations were then followed by Dunmore attempting to come up with some manner that the situation could be dealt with, short of opening fire with his AK-47 outside Tribune Tower.

As usual, I've got a lot of praise for the post, but also some reservations.

Tom's main contention is that because newspapers are dying and beat writers are going away (in some cases they never existed, but anyway), this is bad for MLS, which might be forced to hire its own beat writers to worse effect. Using the really bad situation in Chicago to illustrate what a disaster it's been since the Tribune stopped caring the Fire existed, Dunmore analyzes the options:

But the value of hiring your own beat reporter is severely undermined by the fact that the coverage is still not going to be in the daily metropolitan newspaper, and the obviously thorny issue of just how independently such an open shill could call out and report on his employer’s team honestly.

It becomes a chicken-and-egg question, but the better coverage of teams in Seattle, Toronto and DC by the local press is a major boon to each club.

While that may be true, I don't think the traditional media has ever been particularly kind to MLS, and the way forward is another model completely. In fact, Dunmore's post made me think of Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable by Clay Shirky. The whole thing is from beginning-to-end-awesome, and you should read it all, but I think this is the relevant bit:

And so it is today. When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to.

There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie.

Keep in mind the context of that quote is based around "saving" the newspapers, something Dunmore isn't exactly arguing for but is certainly concerned about. Tom knows the system is breaking, but he's still asking a question that as of today has no good answer - what will replace the newspaper?

(As a quick aside, and here's as good a place as any to say it, last week Deplorable Twaddle herself linked to a piece condemning people like Shirky for dismissing the publishing institutions of the past as accidents of history. The point is well taken, but I think holding up the institution of analog publishing as some kind of base human joy, a happy dance with gatekeepers, advertisers, and consumers, equalled only by the book itself 1) stretches things just a bit too far and 2) does nothing to change the fact that newspapers as we know them are dying. I also feel that Shirky views where we are today as far less perfect than the rebuttal implies. But go read it yourself, have fun.)

Not long ago Dan Loney joked to the effect that the prime beneficiaries of the internet were homosexuals, fetishists, and American soccer fans. The relevant kernel of truth in his joke is that the overwhelming amount of news, rumors, and information on MLS and the national teams gets traded on the internet. In a BigSoccer post from long ago (5000 points to the person who finds it!), Bill Archer commented on how print media mattered very little to MLS, that the old guard who ran newspapers would always be hostile to soccer, and if MLS was smart it would push its internet promotions as far as they would go.

I'm sure that there are more articles and research behind these two offhand statements, but I think on their own they establish a base truth that we're all aware of - the costs of print, the attitudes of editorial staff, and the current lack of an audience at the economically viable tipping point combine to stack the deck against analog soccer coverage in the United States unless it involves something we can't ignore like a World Cup. And with newspapers sinking below the surface as their revenues no longer cover their costs, soccer coverage is often going to be one of the first things thrown over the side with the steadily rising water.

What's ironic is that as the old guard moves on and new reporters step in, print soccer coverage is getting much better. In addition to the people Dunmore mentions, Shawn Mitchell and Michael Arace over at the Columbus Dispatch are doing phenomenal work. For the both of them, it's a mixture of newsprint and blogging, but they've brought enthusiastic voices to a medium that has known few.

When one looks at the internet, the light gets even brighter. The amount and variety of content is staggering, from TFC's Zerg army of bloggers, to Protoss 3rd Degree (particularly Buzz Carrick) doing amazing work down in Dallas. Almost every team except Chicago seems to have a strong online media arm of some form or another. Even MLSnet is a good source for stories of all kinds - game reports, quotes, follow-ups, etc. Guys like Craig Merz who are no longer in the Daily grind have ended up on the internets doing their thing (although mostly for much less money, but I won't touch that today), effectively giving MLS a de facto group of beat reporters right now.

It sounds like there is a major problem in Chicago - that much is clear from Dunmore's abject sorrow and anger and even the team's puzzling gate numbers. Bill Quigley's serious health issues have undoubtedly contributed to the lack of coverage. But when you've got everything from Creepy Jose videotaping my team's practices to fan sites like the DCCenters to quality team blogs like Hillcrest Road, the situation is much less grim on a league-wide basis than Tom paints it.

Particularly since MLS has never been able to rely on beat coverage like baseball has, the relative damage of these papers going under is much less to MLS. It certainly doesn't threaten the league's survival in the long run. One could make a good argument that the papers could have been so awesome for soccer's next generation if only they'd lived, but we have to work with what reality gives us.

-FS