John W. McDonough/SI
Los Angeles has never had a reputation for being a great sports town. Sure, we have great weather and great beaches, but when our teams play we show up late and usually leave early. And sometimes we don't show up at all, especially if our teams are bad. It's one of the reasons why we lost two NFL franchises and won't get another one for the foreseeable future.
I still think there are few experiences in sports better than a USC football game at the Coliseum, an afternoon ballgame at Dodgers Stadium, a UCLA basketball game at Pauley Pavilion, a Lakers game at Staples Center or New Year's Day at the Rose Bowl. The skeptics can say what they want, but in the immortal words of Randy Newman, "I love LA."
It is, after all, still the No. 2 media market with two teams (if you count Anaheim as part of LA like the Angels do) in every sport except for the NFL. The media, however, that covers this market is shrinking by the day. A microcosm, no doubt, of what's happening in many other sports cities across America.
Not only have there been major layoffs at newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, Daily News and the Orange County Register, but television and radio stations are also cutting back. This week KLAC 570, which has been the radio home of the Lakers for over 30 years, merged with Fox Sports Radio in a move that saw eight on-air personalities lose their jobs. Those that remained will now be hosting nationally syndicated shows that will no longer focus on LA teams.
KSPN 710, the local ESPN affiliate, already airs plenty of national programming and will likely increase its national presence when "The Worldwide Leader" opens its LA headquarters across the street from Staples Center.
Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket (formerly Fox Sports West 2) ditched its only local news show "The Southern California Sports Report" years ago and primarily airs national programming and infomercials outside of local games. The only real local sports television presence is a few minutes at the end of nightly newscasts, and even those reports are being cut down.
The most troublesome aspect of sports coverage in Los Angeles is that newspapers have also significantly cut their coverage of local teams as editorial staffs are being trimmed due to the economy. The result is little to no coverage on teams outside the Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, USC football and UCLA basketball.
Even those teams aren't getting the coverage that they once did. For example, the Daily News and Orange County Register, which used to compete against each other, entered into content sharing agreement last year and now a Daily News staffer covers the Dodgers for both papers on the road, while a Register staffer does the same with the Angels.
This is after the Daily News was already folded into the "Los Angeles Newspaper Group," a collection of nine daily newspapers in the area where staff writers rotate among newspapers and file the same stories for all nine papers. It's almost as if some games are covered by a Times writer and another writer essentially serving as a pool reporter for every other newspaper in town. Yet, because staffs have been cut so thin, even the LA Newspaper Group can't cover every home game of the Clippers and Kings and already relies on wire stories when they're on the road.
Even the Times, which cut over 200 editorial jobs last year, doesn't cover the Clippers and Kings on the road and occasionally rotates writers for home games. Basically, any team other than the Lakers that plays at Staples Center is viewed as a fringe team and is covered as such.
Suddenly, bloggers who cover the Clippers, Kings, Ducks and other local sports teams in Los Angeles aren't just supplementing the coverage that's already out there. They are becoming the only coverage out there for their teams. As local papers continue to merge with one another and radio and television stations do the same, making for one big national sports voice, bloggers and podcasters are suddenly becoming the only way many local sports fans to find out what's going on with their team. Never before have fans and sports teams needed bloggers so much. What was once thought of as a hobby for fans has now become a necessity in order to follow many teams. Unless you want to read an AP story or one written by a team employee, how else are fans going to get some local insight into what happened, for example, during a Clippers or Kings road game?
Unfortunately, like the newspaper reporters that once covered these teams on a full-time basis, these bloggers can't travel with the team and talk to players after road games, leaving a huge void in the coverage that surely won't be filled in this economic climate and may never be filled again as the way sports is covered at a local level has likely changed forever.
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Comments (31) Add A Comment
Being from outside the US, I'm not sure about the "mental picture in your head" you can get from listening to the NBA/MLB or a college game on the radio. I guess someone who listens to a game can explain it.
eylesy
Total Comments (141)
the OC Register should fold completely...what a crappy rag
blueintheblood
Honolulu, HI
Total Comments (310)
Arash you yourself are part of the problem. Why am I going to spend a buck on a paper when I can just go to a website that gives the same level of coverage the paper gives. Heck for NY local sports I can just go to the local papers websites and read the same articles that are in the papers themselves. Sure the papers make some money from advertising on their websites but I doubt it is as profitable as the selling of papers.
The media business plan as it currently is structured is incompatible with the modern world and that is the reason media folks are losing their jobs.
BigBlueNJ
Total Comments (542)
Listen to Joe tait call a Cavs game sometime. You'll learn more about basketball than by watching TV.
Dawgpounder
Total Comments (181)
And as cell phones will internet access like blackberrys become more available (costs inevitably drop as time passes) you'll be reading the Post from your phone.
BigBlueNJ
Total Comments (542)
When it became more about the journalist than the journalism, that is when the decay started to happen. Go to a library and read a 50 year old sports story on microfiche. The writing is incredible and the author never injects himself into the story. No one asked a player what was going through his mind when he hit the home run.
Celtics Beat
Studio City , CA
Total Comments (167)
Like BigBlue said, newspapers are folding on a whole around the World as everyone can get free news access on the internet, why pay?
The NFL teams that were here were the Rams and Raiders. Included were their garbage owners Al Davis and Georgia Frontiere. Al moved hoping to get a good stadium for his team. It was in a bad part of town yet still got sell-outs. He had a chance for a great stadium from Irwindale which gave him $10,000,000 out of good faith so he kept the money and ran. Georgia's 6th husband drowned mysteriously though a pro swimmer and Georgia gets the team. She was stingy with the millions and millions she got and never put a winner on the field. She never even tried to get fans in the stadium.
I am tired of all of this L.A. bashing especially from an obvious outsider like Ararsh Markazi. Go back to wherever you came from
AngelsLakersPackers
Whittier , CA
Total Comments (81)
Los Angeles is a terrible sports town, I didn't realize how much until my first visit there this summer. The Dodgers should should get the heck out and go back to Brooklyn while the getting is still good.
jcating
Houston , TX
Total Comments (3)
Los Angeles is a terrible sports town and this story is proof. I didn't realize how apathetic the fans were until I visited this summer. The Dodgers should get the heck out and go back to Brooklyn while the getting is still good.
jcating
Houston , TX
Total Comments (3)
This is more of a reflection of the worsening economy than anything else. Like any other arena of luxury, newspapers and sports media are hurt more by a worsening economy, and do better when the economy is as well.
RaiderDave
Dublin, CA
Total Comments (497)
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BigBlueNJ
Total Comments (542)
Los Angeles is NOT a bad aports town. We LOVE our teams. The problem or really lack of a problem is that this area is so much more diverse when it comes to sports teams, like the United States of being a melting pot for people coming from all over the world to live, Los Angeles is the same way about sports. There are so many fans of other cities and ports team it is amazing. WIth the exception of football we have atleast two teams for each sport. Wth the exception of New York I do not think there is another city that can claim that.
I grew up in the San Fernando valley and there is was like a 50/50 cut, you either loved USC or you loved UCLA it was that cut and dry.
The other part of this is the layouot of the land. There is so much more to do here than anywhere else. The weather seems to always be worm and you can go and do anything. In the winter there is surfing and skiing and most go out of town to the desert to ride toys, go to Mammoth to Ski, drive or fly to Vegas (Drive 3-4 hours away) (1 hour by flight). You have many lakes and rivers that people take boats and sea-doos to. There is the Ocean where many spend their time. Then there is San Diego and San Fran that everyone visits. The night life, too many things to do. That plays a major part.
Sith so much to do and so many choices and teams to root for it is hard for a city like Los Angeles to get behind one solid team in just one sport.
People out here do like winners. Most are going to jump on that bandwagon when teams win and spend the money to go see them. If teams are not winning they will spend their money on the many, many other things that they can do.
GO4theGOLDUSA
Trabuco Canyon, CA
Total Comments (22)
Hey Arash Mohammad, Your an idiot.
Don't be blaming the L.A. fans.. Back before that **** Georgia had her husband killed and then stole our Rams Franchise and took them to her home town St. Louis, Rams fans were as loyal as could be.. Georgia cared more about sideline entertainment than fielding a competitive team.
And don't compare our sports knowledge with those east coast fans. Back when I gave a damn about sports, I knew just s much or more than any Boston or New York fan..
Chris15
Simi Valley , CA
Total Comments (15)
Yeah dude, you're definitely not from L.A. or know anything about it. Check ESPN's attendence trackers. The Dodgers and Lakers (and the Angels) are in the top seven or eight for attendence every year. UCLA basketball ALWAYS does well. USC football is doing just fine and will continue to do so as long as they field teams that give a d*mn (unlike the 1990s).
This story is a reflection of the changing world of communications. As cable drastically changed the world of sports in the 1980s, the internet is drastically changing sports media in this current decade.
Fans and media outlets will adjust in time and find ways to cover/follow their teams.
Capsfan
Arlington , VA
Total Comments (248)
You're absolutely right. The Rams were in the playoffs almost every year before Georgia drowned poor Carroll. Then she married that crook and stole our team away. Hopefully she's suffering for her sins right now.
LA Riva
Pueblo West, CO
Total Comments (414)
@$&**% @!&*$
LA Riva
Pueblo West, CO
Total Comments (414)
Being from Chicago and currently living in New York, I can say the shrinking isn't just an LA problem. It's part of a major shift in media coverage across the whole America. The Chicago Tribune pretty much has a skeletal crew covering sports right now, and you're talking about a sports-addicted town with Cubs, Bears, and Bulls. So yeah, while you can say the media market is shrinking, it's shrinking all across the U.S. When the economy bounces back, everything will return to normal again, even the sports media.
ImCharlie
Chicago , IL
Total Comments (2)
Being from Chicago and currently living in New York, I can say the shrinking isn't just an LA problem. It's part of a major shift in media coverage across the whole America. The Chicago Tribune pretty much has a skeletal crew covering sports right now, and you're talking about a sports-addicted town with Cubs, Bears, and Bulls. So yeah, while you can say the media market is shrinking, it's shrinking all across the U.S. When the economy bounces back, everything will return to normal again, even the sports media.
ImCharlie
Chicago , IL
Total Comments (2)
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