NBA fans on press row?

[leo1]

i'm no longer a sports writer so i can see this issue from both sides. obviously teams can sell those seats for a fortune. but it's also important to get media coverage even if teams think most newspapers are irrelevant. so what is the ideal solution that would make both sides happy? media in a couple rows behind each basket instead of on the sideline?

 

[HoopsMcCann]

Many high-major Division I basketball programs have done or are in the process of doing the same thing.

I understand the need for additional revenue streams, but still...

At Syracuse basketball, it was ridiculous last year. They put two rows of fans in front of the media on the baseline, so every time Syracuse dunked, you couldn't see anything. I watched the game on TV in the media room instead, otherwise I wouldn't have seen it.

syracuse was as bad as i've seen

i've been other places where we're up, and while not my favorite, you can still see the court. at georgetown, there's one row of people in front of you, but they're told not to stand and they didn't. so it was fine. at louisville, they put fans at the end of the press table. those bastards would pound on the table and spill beer on it. great stuff.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Wasn't Kentucky the first school to do this?

 

[spnited]

I don't know what you can do about the colleges but I remember a time (OK, it was the 70s) when the professional basketball writers association fought the teams on this ... particularly the Lakers at the old Forum in Inglewood when they decided to sell celeb seats and move the press up to a hockey press box betwen the second and third level.
The writers actually won and the league (Larry O"Brien was commish) issued an order that there had to be a certain number of seats at a table exclusively for working media at courtside every game.
As I recall, one of the most vocal leaders of this fight was a rather young Boston beat writer named Bob Ryan.

 

[Norman Stansfield]

Many high-major Division I basketball programs have done or are in the process of doing the same thing.

I understand the need for additional revenue streams, but still...

At Syracuse basketball, it was ridiculous last year. They put two rows of fans in front of the media on the baseline, so every time Syracuse dunked, you couldn't see anything. I watched the game on TV in the media room instead, otherwise I wouldn't have seen it.

syracuse was as bad as i've seen

i've been other places where we're up, and while not my favorite, you can still see the court. at georgetown, there's one row of people in front of you, but they're told not to stand and they didn't. so it was fine. at louisville, they put fans at the end of the press table. those bastards would pound on the table and spill beer on it. great stuff.

I've sat at that same seat in Freedom Hall at Louisville. Other than the fact it's so far down the one side of the court it's not that bad a seat, and I've never had any problems with fans.

I know Wisconsin has booted all its media upstairs to the hockey pressbox for the first time this season.

 

[Shaggy]

I actually don't have a problem with not sitting on the front row. I understand that money rules all, so if you move all of us up, whatever.

 

[Bubbler]

I actually don't have a problem with not sitting on the front row. I understand that money rules all, so if you move all of us up, whatever.

Way to fight the good fight.

I'm still on the floor, but I have a feeling I'd better enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[CoopGator]

I know this is primarily for the print folk, but team radio is getting pushed off the floor as well. 18 of the 30 NBA teams have moved us to the back of the lower bowl or a little higher. As I tell people "It's a great place to broadcast a hockey game." Completely different perspective, and especially difficult when trying to find out on whom officials have called fouls, among other things

 

[Shaggy]

I actually don't have a problem with not sitting on the front row. I understand that money rules all, so if you move all of us up, whatever.

Way to fight the good fight.

I'm still on the floor, but I have a feeling I'd better enjoy it while it lasts.

I'd rather fight for something like the absolute shitty access the football portion of my beat offers me rather than whether I sit on the first row or the 15th. Sorry bub.

 

[PopeDirkBenedict]

The school I cover got rid of press row completely -- donate 5 figures to the athletic department and you can sit in chairs where the press once sat. We are in the bleachers underneath the basket. Classy operation.

 

[GuessWho]

If Bob Knight goes for the record at home, that's a recipe for disaster. Texas Tech has a beautiful arena, but they've got the media shoehorned into a little corner of the upper deck. It's not going to be pretty.

 

[leo1]

so i'll pose this question again: what is your solution? teams aren't going to give up pursuit of the almighty dollar so put press back on press row isn't the solution. what is?