Running Football Tab Thread

[SF_Express]

Despite my time on the web, I'm still an ink-stained wretch (note the lowercase, Inky) at heart, but I got to tell you: I don't miss this part of the job, or time of the year, at all. When a good special section or tab is rolling off the presses, it's a great feeling -- but the process can really suck.

 

[fmrsped]

I second SF -- Now on the biz side, I'll avoid it this year. ... At a former shop I did a 24-pager and a 48-pager for our HS tabs in about four days, and turned around a week later and did a 48-page college tab. Good times.

And this was while training two new guys and putting out a section each day.

I had some healthy overtime on those checks.

Good luck everyone, and if anyone needs help in NE Ohio, shoot me a PM.

 

[HackyMcHack]

We did away with rosters last year at our 40K. The only people who complained were the radio guys who were too lazy to get their own rosters from the schools.

 

[BH33]

As a counterpoint, let me just say this: You have to run rosters, especially at smaller papers. If you don't, you can expect to spend the entire day the tab is published explaining to irate callers why you left them out. Readers/fans/customers want that kind of information.

I disagree. At our 20K paper, we don't run rosters, and I've never had a complaint, let alone a full day's worth of irate callers. Fans get the rosters at the gate, and by week 4 the roster that ran in the tab is 6 weeks old and could have changed quite a bit.

We're in a situation where 1 or 2 people put together the 24-page section, and you'd be amazed how quickly space fills up. I wouldn't say rosters are a waste of space, but I don't think they're necessary. They may also be tough to get. To get the rosters into the tab, you probably need them about 2 weeks before the tab comes out. Some schools don't have final rosters that early.

We have 10 schools, and we devote 1 page for each team (plus any needed jump). Each team page has a nice graphic with players to watch, key stats from last year, the schedule, etc. There is also a feature story for each team. In that feature, my personal opinion is to stay away from stuff like, "The offense will be led by Joe Quarterback and should be much-improved over last year." I like to pick a player, or a group (say a stud linebacker crew) that is going to make a major impact on the team, and feature them. Within that story, you can briefly touch on the rest of the team (maybe a paragraph or two), but keep it focused on that kid, or group.

Make sure you have a nice cover. We like to keep the double-truck open and fill it with great art and a solid feature that wasn't just thrown together. This can be the key to your tab.

For filler, we use different things, such as a week-by-week schedule for the different leagues (not just the teams in our area, because readers like to see when and where their rivals are playing); a look back at last year's stats; state records possibly. Last year, though, we didn't have a lot of filler room, because after you lay down the stories, the double-truck, an index page, and some jump space in the back, you're done.

 

[JRoyal]

For the most part I gotta agree that rosters aren't worth the space they take up. A lot of people still put them in because they always have. Sure, they fill space, but the space could be better used, and I question how useful or accurate a roster is when the information for it is already a week or two old when the section prints, never mind how old it is by the first game.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

I've never put rosters in any football tab. And I usually was the one putting them together. And I've never received a complaint.



Of course most of the time, I already had to have the shoehorn ready to get a lot of things in, because the ad department didn't sell any ads. Last place I was at, we had 30 schools and 24 page tab. There had to limit to 10-12 inch stories on each team, with a nice graphic that had schedule, key players, last years record.


I think whether or not you use rosters depends on how many schools you cover. If it's anywhere more then 10, it's not a good idea.

 

[jps]

Tabs in the 20s and 40s? Damn I wish I were so lucky. Haven't gotten our pages yet, but last year I believe we were around 120 and we're supposed to be bigger this time around.

As far as rosters, yeah, eat up way too much space. What we've started doing is, in short form, throw in returning all-district, all-area and all-state guys. Sometimes we'll throw in newcomers, too, if they really matter much. This seems to keep the folks happy.

On team photos, though ... most often ugly? yes. Could we ever dump them? No way in heck -- advertising typically centers on those things for each page, unfortunately.

As far as themes ... if you can, use them to tie together a cover story, maybe, and a handful of feature stories. Other than that, don't worry about it. Make the cover nice and put some good stories in for fringe folks, but give the football people what they want through the rest.

 

[shotglass]

No offense, jps, but we shuffled team photos out the back door about 15 years ago, and if anybody suggested a return, he/she would be shot on the spot.

We do a lot of things that are ad-driven in the course of the year. And we fight as hard as we can to keep the football tab news-driven. We place the ads where we want to for the good of the section flow, and if we can put them where the advertiser would like it to go, fine. If not...

(Yes, I realize that luxury isn't an option in a lot of places. But it should be.)

 

[jps]

That'd be nice, SG.

I'm working on bumping the team photos this year, but I'm less than confident of that actually happening. I'm thinking instead of maybe stripping six key players' mugs or something. I dunno.

On ads, though, that'd be a tough one to swing when it comes to us placing, I think. I'd love it - but convinving the ad folks would be a mite tough.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

I'd ax team photos where I am, but we have no photog on duty and art is sparing for my teams. I'll leave the rosters on because I have the room and it's a nice touch, particularly since it'll be the only time 90 percent of the names get printed again that season. Plus it makes it more likely to be kept and referenced.

 

[Cosmo]

We never did prep rosters when I was an SE, and we're not doing them at my shop now. Again, too hard to get accurate information. A lot of teams don't finalize their rosters until right before the first game. We do run college rosters for our three schools. I like it, because it gives people an idea of where those kids come from.

Team photos? Never.

 

[Hustle]

We cover 15 (or so) schools across four different leagues. We have a team page for each, plus a feature on one player in the league to kick off that part of the section. Instead of rosters, we have a couple of different categories like powerhouse performer (strongest player), etc.

Also in the section: cover story, feature on a former area player now in college, full team schedules, state records, random area stats (state finals results involving our teams, etc.) and other random stuff as well.