E-Media Tidbits

So one day, I totaled up the column inches of MSU sports coverage in the newspaper and gave the athletic director the number and a copy of our advertising rate card. Although he continued to complain occasionally, he got the point: Editorial content was free publicity, not advertising -- and advertising was expensive.

Mark Cuban, the wealthy entrepreneur, chairman of HDNet and owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, gets this point, too. He outlined it in a provocative Dec. 24 Blog Maverick post: "Why Pro Sports Need Newspapers."

According to Cuban, professional sports (he didn't mention the big business of collegiate athletics) needs newspapers -- especially in the short-term.

"Teams in every league need as much local coverage as we can get," wrote Cuban. "The more stories that are written by sportswriters and columnists, the more opportunities for fans to connect and stay connected to our teams."

Cuban believes that newspapers appeal best to casual fans. He differentiates between his team's casual and hardcore fans. The hardcore fans also turn to national sports sites, the official local team's site and blogs. Regarding the print demographic, Cuban noted, "Their customers pay our bills."

His solution to attracting the local, casual sports fan? Sports teams should underwrite exclusive print coverage and create a "beat writer cooperative." Professional sports teams need "to work with our local papers to try to keep them alive as long as possible," he wrote.

In Cuban's vision, sports teams would pay for beat coverage (a consistent daily news hole). However, the coverage that fills this news hole would be autonomous: Newspapers would retain editorial control.

Cuban is a smart businessman. He's no doubt read the rate cards of The Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I would far rather subsidize in-depth coverage of the Mavs, even without any editorial control, than spend more money on advertising," he wrote. "The numbers may not make the newspaper shareholders happy, but they are of sufficient numbers to have an impact on the local sports market."

Cuban understands that this is a short-term solution: "The cost to reach those fans in a newspaper-less world over the next five to seven years will cost us far more than working with newspapers today to try to help them."

My guess is that this won't happen in Dallas or Fort Worth -- there's still too much stubborn print pride there. But sooner or later, someone, somewhere, will be willing to slap an advertorial label on the coverage and take the money rather than continue to cut reporters and coverage, as many newspapers have over these past months.

If I had the seed money (Hey Mark, can you spare a couple million?) and could put a hyperactive Rolodex (and I do mean Rolodex) to work, I'd offer Cuban another solution. It could be either the Politico hybrid print/online model (although newsprint is expensive), or the online-only Huffington Post model for major market sites.

There are plenty of big-name sports writers available, considering all the buyouts and staff reductions the past few years. And these experienced, talented and knowledgeable journalists will never be more valuable than they are right now. For instance, one such golf writer from my personal Rolodex could write a better column or blog item about the Masters Tournament from the comfort of his living room than 99 percent of the on-site journalists could do.

Of course, the shelf life of these journalists is limited -- certainly no more (if not less) than the five to seven years Cuban suggested. The clock is ticking, and the future pool of talent is shrinking.

I often call politics the new sports. Many of the innovations that used to happen first on the sports pages and then online now seem to take place in political coverage.

Mark Cuban has a good idea. I think I do, too. Maybe we should talk.