Will locker room access ever return in MLB & NHL?

[Fdufta]

I don't think we're getting back in there. If so, definitely not for the amount of time we were in the past. Maybe 15-20 minutes after the manager or head coach speaks? I'm skeptical of that, too. They do not give two craps about what makes our job easier or stories better. While I agree with a previous poster's point about creating a buffer between the media and players and how the lack of it will dictate our coverage, I simply don't think it's on their radar. If I was paid by any of these leagues to advise them on these decisions, I'd say absolutely not. While many reporters walk around the clubhouses aimlessly waiting for a scrum, the ones who know what they're doing can spot stories and fissures in the clubhouse with that access. Now that the players and coaches have been normalized to the Zoom world, I don't think it's coming back. Plus, add the whole COVID thing to the mix. It's a game-changer.

 

[MTM]

It will be the end of all the website and radio freelancers at the games, as well. No need to be there if everything is coming via Zoom.

I filled in a few times for a buddy who covered the Anaheim Ducks for a website and they would make available two or three players and the coach, so everyone got the same post-game stuff.

 

[Woody Long]

Even before this, locker room/clubhouse access wasn't always great. For several years, a group of regulars at one MLB clubhouse joked about which near-the-bottom-of-the-depth-chart reliever would be in the clubhouse that day.

And with teams and leagues being able to give their own website or the league's website all the play they want, they don't need to provide access anymore, and they won't.

Pretty soon, you'll see pressboxes converted into more suites and a 20-seat press box with obstructed views like you get in the International League.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

Yeah outside baseball its been glorified podium time for years. By the time the room opens its empty, the players are in their adjacent off limits lounge and shuffle in 1-2 at a time for giant mostly useless scrums.

its never coming back but im not sure theres any great loss. Casual locker chats and nugget dropping died with the Regan/Tip ONeill bourbon chats

 

[Moderator1]

Access in all sports has been shrinking inversely with the amount of money in the TV contract.

There was a time when you could actually spend an hour with a driver or crew chief just shooting the bull without a PR person looming over your shoulder or having to have a story angle in mind. But with so many sponsor obligations, those guys don't even have an hour to themselves any more, let alone one for an ink-stained scribe.

Plus, TV has specific interview rules written to their deal. Drivers are only required by the league to stick around for a quick "so what happened today?" query by the pit reporter, but can tell the rest of us to go (do rude things), which Kurt and Kyle Busch made perfectly clear to me on several occasions.

It's come down to a 10-minute gang bang at the hauler, or the mandatory media room stop on Friday. If you're not writing a gamer, you're scrambling.

Gone are the days when you could bend the ear of a Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt after qualifying or on pit lane before the start of a race, with no one else around.

Like you said, the locker room or the batting cage is where you get the stuff that the online content aggregators can't get. Anybody can get on Zoom or get the team's releases and "cover" a sport. But you can't actually write news without access.

I remember years ago sitting in the hauler with Bill Elliott after practice - he was fixing a peanut butter sandwich. He offered me one, we sat and ate and talked for an hour.
Fast forward a number of years later, I couldn't get five minutes with the guy to save my life. Not his doing. Too many layers of PR people.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I thought for about five minutes when this shirt started that this might turn out to be an equalizer of sorts and get everyone's priorities aligned. No longer treating star athletes like gods. That didn't last long.

 

[MeanGreenATO]

I think we'll find different ways to tell stories/cover teams as things shift because of shrinking access. And that doesn't mean coverage can't be robust and successful. Just look at the UK/EPL.

 

[Azrael]

I don't know.

The access complaint goes back decades. Every generation feels like it has things a little worse than the one before it.

We really lost our edge when we stopped riding the train with players, and staying in the team hotel.

Like Moddy, I can remember an entire afternoon nearly 20 years ago I spent sitting on a workbench in the sheds at Martinsville with Richard Petty. But even then, every star racer had at least 4 publicists; his own; one from the team; one from the sponsor; and one from his car manufacturer.

I see reporters in big league locker rooms in every sport standing around talking to one another while they wait for the team's big star to get out of the shower. 11 other players; or 24; or 54 are toweling off and ready to say something, but no one much approaches them.

It's not always how much time you get in the clubhouse - it's what you do with it.

nb: Boxing still has good access.

 

[Patchen]

I think access is important and the difficult thing is it's a long game. It may take weeks, months, years of being at game and developing relationships for them to pay off. But they do often pay off and, as a reader, I can tell which reporters are connected, which are talking to the right people and who is on the outside.
However, it is easier than ever to put out good content without access. People can do great things with video to explain what's going on and that wasn't possible just a few years ago. What's missing is context and I don't know if it's important to most coaches or players. It should be.
On some level, teams and athletes should understand that their popularity is tied to their stories and the media, for all the headaches, tells those stories and helps fans get attached.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I don't know.

The access complaint goes back decades. Every generation feels like it has things a little worse than the one before it.

This is of course correct. I remember being able to interview guys in the locker room during BP. The generation before me remembers being able to hang out in the locker room for five or six hours before a game. But what are the good ol' days gonna sound like a generation now (presuming, you know, humanity makes it that far)? I feel bad for the 20-somethings for whom these ARE the good ol' days of access.

 

[Azrael]

Just as a mechanical matter, beat reporters can still get the daily quotes or deadline game analysis they need from a press conference/podium set-up or a mixed zone.

Mixed zones actually work pretty well. Depends on the sport, I guess.

For profiles or longer pieces, you're going to go through player's publicist or the team publicist anyway, so the access is roughly what it was. The challenge is convincing them to buy into your premise.

What we're losing is the chance to strike up a casual relationship - a friendship - with players. Too few reporters bothered to do that anyway. Instead they'd stand in that little cluster - just to one side of the logo on the floor - waiting for Le Bron to finish showering. Everyone wants to talk to the quarterback - but if you're really interested in some nuance of football, go interview the center.

And I know it's frustrating to hear, but even as we get pushed out of the locker room or dressing room or clubhouse, digital technology and social media have improved our access to many athletes. And allowed us a window on what they really think - as opposed to whatever shiny bullshirt they're willing to say on the record.

 

[BrendaStarr]

For profiles or longer pieces, you're going to go through player's publicist or the team publicist anyway, so the access is roughly what it was. The challenge is convincing them to buy into your premise.

Unless it was the offseason, I can't say I've ever had to go through a player's or team's publicist to get access to them for a profile or longer piece. That's why there's locker room/clubhouse access and availability, especially if you're someone who is on a beat and covering the team regularly and they know you. So, no, access would not be roughly what it was for a reporter covering a team.

What we're losing is the chance to strike up a casual relationship - a friendship - with players. Too few reporters bothered to do that anyway. Instead they'd stand in that little cluster - just to one side of the logo on the floor - waiting for Le Bron to finish showering. Everyone wants to talk to the quarterback - but if you're really interested in some nuance of football, go interview the center.

Because some reporters don't do the job like they should diminished access doesn't matter? Yeah, someone who only talks to the most notable player before or after the game, merely looking for a quote or soundbite, won't be missing out on anything. I don't think readers, or maybe even some reporters, understand how important and valuable the relationships that are built with players and coaches off camera/record are to writing stories with depth and backed with information that can go beyond what numbers say.

And I know it's frustrating to hear, but even as we get pushed out of the locker room or dressing room or clubhouse, digital technology and social media have improved our access to many athletes. And allowed us a window on what they really think - as opposed to whatever shiny bullshirt they're willing to say on the record.

Social media is just another way for athletes to craft the image they want of themselves and building a brand. There should be some skepticism of what is published/tweeted/etc. Feels like a real leap to proclaim digital technology and social media have improved our access to many athletes. Perhaps I'd buy that for athletes in less covered sports, but not for the main pro leagues.

It's always disappointing to see any reporter take the stance that diminished clubhouse/locker room access doesn't matter.