Of the three classes I am teaching this semester, sports writing and reporting has suddenly become the most challenging.
How do you teach sports writing when there are no sports?
It’s part of the larger question the sports media world is facing in the face of the coronavirus pandemic — when there are no games, what do we do?
Certainly, there is still news to cover. NFL free-agency has been a treasure trove of awesome for sports fans. And as many people have pointed out — some helpfully, some snarkily — this gives sports journalists a chance to search for stories that aren’t presented right in front of them.
But it’s important to recognize just how major a change this is to the culture of sports journalism.
My research into the norms, values and routines of sports journalism has shown that in so many ways, sports reporting revolves around game coverage.
Game coverage is central to sports journalism. A reporter’s work schedule, story selection, and sourcing decisions are almost always centered around the games of the team(s) he or she covers. An editor's planning of his or her section—both in print and online—almost universally centers around game coverage. Sports themselves revolve around games—from the NFL to high school football—so it’s natural that sports journalism has its roots in games. In fact, it can be argued that no area of journalism is so intrinsically tied to a part of their coverage as sports journalism is to games.
Sports journalism is often defined through game coverage. A sports department’s schedule still mirrors the local sports teams’ game schedules. Much in the way a crime reporter’s day revolves around the court schedule or a political writer’s work day revolves around the many meetings of government agencies, a sports journalist’s schedule revolves around the games on his or her beat. If there are no games going on in the area, it’s considered a slow night, no matter what else might be happening in the sports world.
And there’s never been a slower time in the sports world than right now.