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June 26, 2007

Dear AP Sounding Board members,

The six-question survey on use of sports agate and prepared pages drew 23 responses from a wide range of circulations and regions. It's the most feedback on a Sounding Board survey so far this year. Take a bow, Kevin Whitmer of The Star-Ledger, for proposing this high-interest topic.

Results suggest content adjustments are being made at many newspapers as sports editors strive to meet readers' interests. Full replies are listed below.

Survey results by the numbers:

1. Has your paper reduced the volume of agate (box scores, etc.) it runs on pro or college sports?

Yes: 16
No: 6
Considering: 1

2. Looking ahead, do you see the volume of result agate on pro and college sports increasing, decreasing or staying about the same?

Increasing: 1
Decreasing: 11
Same: 11

3. In local sports agate, are you using more, less or about the same?

More: 10
Less: 3
Same: 10

4. What interest do you have in prepared print pages, ready for publication, produced by the AP and featuring agate and other sports material?

Interested: 3
No interest/minimal interest: 10
Some interest for events like Olympics or milestones: 10

5. How would you expect those pages to intersect with your sports on the Web?

Don't publish Web agate or N/A: 11
Would consider: 12 in various forms

6. What agate do you consider most important to you?

Local sports (high school/college): 7
National sports: 5
Both local/national: 11

Thanks to all who participated.

— Dave Minthorn

Responses:

Jennifer Houtman, managing editor, The Marietta (Ohio) Times:

1. No.

2. Staying about the same – we basically devote a page to agate from the wire

3. About the same, but that information often runs with specific stories and packages done locally

4. Not a lot, mainly because we just do one page of agate that includes wire information

5. We would like to link to more national stuff on the Web, in paper, we want our focus to be primarily local – we are a small market.

6. Local, mainly high school, sports

Robert Gagliardi, sports editor, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne:

1. Yes, mostly with professional sports. We stopped running Major League Baseball box scores and went to line scores. And, over the last couple of years we have phased out NBA, NHL, college football and college basketball box scores. About the only thing we haven't cut back on is the running of NFL box scores.

2. For now I would see it staying about the same, unless we nixed the NFL box scores.

3. We may be using a little bit more as several youth sports organizations have sent results into us. Instead of eating up 20-plus inches of copy we have put their results in agate format to be more consistent across the board. Our paper is a daily, but we still have a small-town mentality so we get junior high and elementary school results and standings. Nearly all of that goes into agate.

As far as or high school and other local agate, that has stayed about the same over the last five years.

4. Some interest, but cost and space are issues that have prevented us from doing this.

5. That's an area we have yet to explore. We have been upgrading our Web site and there has been some talk about putting a lot of agate on the Web. But as of now, no decisions have been made. Currently, we do not publish agate results on our Web site.

6. To me, the NFL and MLB boxes. I know we now go with line scores for MLB but personally I like box scores. I also think transactions are important as well as weekly money leaders for various sports. I may be a bit old-school, but I am a fan of agate. It provides a lot of information in a somewhat small amount of space. I also realize I am in the minority in this area as well.

Charlie Jaworski, executive sports editor, Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

1. Not too much. We take penalties out of NHL hockey, expect for Rangers, Sabres, Senators (we're the farm club) and Isles. We used to run college standings in football and basketball but haven't for a while now.

2. Decreasing.

3. Slight increase, as there's always new teams. We do HS agate from football to field hockey. Everything.

4. Probably not much.

5. NA

6. Besides high schools, Major League Baseball, NFL.

But some day, will all agate be gone, I wonder, available on the Web? I'm an old timer, somewhat Web savvy, and I see a constant eroding of agate and think eventually it will hit the major sports. I hope by that time there's a print reawakening.

Mark Faller, sports editor, The Arizona Republic/azcentral.com, Phoenix

1. Yes. About a year ago we stopped running Top 25 men's basketball box scores (we now only run local teams and Pac-10 conference boxes, which we'd always done). Also about a year ago, we stopped running a weekly agate summary of Arizona ballplayers in the minor leagues. That now only appears online. Periodically, when space is tight, we do not run the expanded NHL or NBA standings that for years we ran daily.

2. Decreasing. If space continues to shrink, agate will have to take a hit right along with all other content.

3. Less. About two years ago we eliminated all preps agate except for scores, schedules and football summaries. We directed customers where to find it online.

4. I am interested in it for something like major league baseball, but I am concerned about the cost and the loss of flexibility.

5. Unknown. I'm not sure Web visitors would need to see that agate content from us. If we can link to a third-party provider, but ensure they returned to us when finished, that would be ideal.

6. Pro standings and box scores are vital to keeping traditional print customers. Local horse, and to a lesser extent greyhound, racing results and entries have value because they report news from local businesses. Results of events like tennis and golf, local events and certain minor sports are, often, the only representation of those topics in the section some days.

Adam Mertz, sports editor, The Capital Times, Madison, Wis.

1. Yes, both because we are an afternoon paper and this information is readily available online or in the morning paper in town, and because we have better uses for our limited news hole. In the past year, we have stopped running NHL regular-season sums altogether (no local market teams), stopped running all NBA boxes except the Milwaukee Bucks, and no longer run college basketball sums. We do make some allowances for postseason sums in the latter two categories (particularly NCAA men's basketball tournament).

2. If anything, decreasing – mostly due to our PM status. We have even discussed the demise of baseball and NFL sums at some future point.

3. Same, and actually expanding in some areas as sports are added.

4. Very little if they remain purely agate. On the PM cycle, because sums are all there for us when we start production, it is a very quick and easy assembly process. I could foresee us being interested in a more comprehensive look at that day in baseball – a visually attractive page that combines standings, results with maybe a quick line about each game, some statistics, stars of the day, interesting plays that occurred, and a look ahead at that night's action. I think an NFL page in this style would also have some merit, and because most games are played early in the day, also be more practical since it'd be feasible to have it ready for AMs.

5. It'd be ideal to have them applicable for both, with zero or little adaptation to local systems.

6. Local. Stuff people can't get elsewhere. And obviously, you need to have standings/results for the four major sports.

Jon Johnson, sports editor, Dothan (Ala.) Eagle:

1. Have decreased at times when space allotment in the section as a whole has been decreased, thus using room on the agate page at times to strip stories.

2. Staying about the same.

3. A bit more. As space decreases in the section, we will turn to more agate-related breakouts and cut down on story lengths.

4. Not interested in prepared agate pages. Do have interest in special pages, such as those previewing the start of a season.

5. Do not expect those to be included on Internet site.

6. Major League Baseball box scores, glances of the major sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL), college scores, auto racing/golf results.

Shannon Connor, sports editor, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

1. Yes. We do not run full NBA or NHL boxes. Soon, we will run fewer transactions and golf agate.

2. Decreasing. In our paper, we aim to reduce the size of the agate page to make room for more local content – such as high school box scores – the items you can't get anywhere else.

3. More. We do HS agate for EVERY HS sport – Cross country, swimming, wrestling – you name it.

4. Very little interest. Our aim is VERY VERY local. I can't see a situation in print where we need supplemental coverage on national events. We do like to refer and link to the online AP content, though.

5. NA

6. The agate that is most important to us is the high school and some college agate. Our market is very local. While we are the second-largest paper in the state – we are 100 to 130 miles from our pro teams. We use some expanded boxes for them – but that is it.

Tom Bergeron, sports editor, The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.

1. We dropped all college football box scores except for our local Division 1 team (Rutgers); we dropped all NBA and NHL agate in the last month of the season and didn't hear much in the way of complaints.

2. Decreasing. NFL long boxes will be reviewed this fall.

3. The same – and traditionally we use a lot.

4. Always willing to look at whatever is available. Such items help on sports where we are not as knowledgeable – such as NASCAR, Olympic sports.

5. Always looking for good content – don't mind (actually encourage) mixing and matching content providers there.

6. Anything with local names: High schools, area golf, etc.

Louie St. George, sports editor, The Daily Times, Farmington, N.M.

1. No. Because of the size of our section, we feel that agate is a must. We may not be able to run a story from each event/game, but with agate and statistics, we can still keep our readers up to date.

2. We're always looking for ways to increase the amount of our agate, though space often says otherwise.

3. Local sports agate, that which we create, we're brainstorming ideas to get more ... more standings, more league-wide stats, leaders, etc. We have increased this content in recent months but hope to go even further once preps roll around in the fall.

4. This sounds excellent, but really obtaining the agate ea. night is quite simple and I wonder how such pages could be prepared when games (MLB for example) are ending at all times of the night. Would there be just one sheet that is put together after all the games are complete? If so, that wouldn't help us because once the games on the West Coast are complete, we're already gone to press. But it does sound appealing. Wouldn't mind hearing more about this.

5. This could be very beneficial. Perhaps we could upload such a page daily to our Web site where readers can stay abreast with late games that may not have made it into our sports page. Also, with a page uploaded to the Web, I'd think we could include more stats and more standings ... not limited by space.

6. This varies based on the season, but the stats and standings for the four major sports are quite important. Of course, we run agate from golf tournaments, NASCAR, college sports, etc., and all of it is important.

Roy Hewitt, sports editor, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland:

1. We eliminated national college boxes for football and basketball and for the NHL. Also, we stopped running the lists of Major League averages hitting, pitching and teams. We used to run those lists on Sundays.

2. I see it staying the same for right now. But eventually, it'll probably all move to our Internet.

3. About the same.

4. Not much.

5. NA.

6. Local agate for high schools, colleges and our pro teams.

Steve Bradley, local editor/sports, and Dick Moss, director of local content/nights, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle:

1. Yes. In December of 2005, we cut back on news hole and reduced our Scoreboard agate page from 80 percent agate to about 20 percent of the page. We also experimented with dropping NBA and NHL summaries, but we didn't end up doing so.

2. Short term, staying about the same. Long term, it could decrease. We don't see it increasing.

3. We've had a slight increase in the local agate, including swimming and wrestling summaries for high schools.

4. Minimal. It would have to have a major hook to it, like the Super Bowl or World Series, or be something that was especially pertinent to a subject we were following locally. An infographic on the Stanley Cup if the Buffalo Sabres ever make it to the finals, for example.

5. It depends on the interactive nature. It needs to invite the audience to participate. A Cal Ripken Hall of Fame graphic or something on Rochester's Oak Hill golf course might be a possibility.

6. Pro baseball, local high school sports and pro football, in that order (with football a distant third behind the other two).

Matt Randolph, The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La:

1. No.

2. Staying about the same.

3. About the same.

4. A little.

5. I'm not sure it would be a high priority.

6. Local agate – get names and information in paper without taking up too much space.

National agate – great for getting more information in a smaller space. We don't always run NBA game roundups/capsules, for example, but we always publish the standings and box scores.

Nick Moschella, executive sports editor, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post:

1. The Palm Beach Post has had two significant reductions in agate in the last few years.

• The elimination of Sunday team-by-team baseball statistics. Dropping these numbers – which were two days old when readers saw them – saved us six columns of space each week.

• The elimination of Top 25 men's college basketball box scores. That also was driven by space, and we probably saved 12 columns per week. We took back about six columns of that space for other agate – complete men's and women's scores each day, and weekly conference standings and schedules.

2. I see it staying about the same. If we were to run fewer box scores, we would likely run more scores, schedules and standings.

3. We're probably running more local sports agate. We're running more endurance sports agate and the number of high schools we cover at The Palm Beach Post has grown significantly in recent years.

4. We rarely run them now, choosing to edit and design our own pages. I could see us using them for special occasions – Barry Bonds breaking the home-run record, for example. For the most part, we usually produce special pages like that ourselves.

5. I could imagine making them available to fans as a PDF download under the right circumstances. Our interest might be limited beyond that.

6. Box scores, standings and scores from major sports. Some things never get old. Also, TV listings.

Mark Bowden, editor, and sports editors, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa:

1. Not yet but considering it. May have to eliminate NHL summaries next season.

2. Reducing somewhat but not much. NHL summaries may have to go for space considerations, perhaps some esoteric things like NFL Europe standings. The amount may not change all that much, but the way we present it might by pushing some agate throughout the section with related material instead of on the agate page.

3. About the same, but some of it could possibly become fodder for online as we continue to fight space constraints.

4, Limited if any.

5. Since our interest in prepared pages is limited at best because of a strong local report, I'm not sure of the relevance. If we did run such pages, we would no doubt invite readers to view similar material online whether it be ours or AP's.

6. We consider local high school and college agate our top priority. But pro agate is also essential because some days our strong local report pushes wire out of the news hole – making wire agate extremely important to a well-rounded sports report.

Jason Levine, sports editor, The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.

1. No.

2. Staying about the same.

3. About the same.

4. Because agate comes in so close to deadline, it's easier for us to handle it piecemeal rather than to get it prepackaged. We might have interest in non-agate material.

5. Those pages would have to work seamlessly with our front-end copy editing system as well as our web publishing software.

6. We get the most reader feedback on high school, Major League Baseball and NFL agate.

Scott Angus, editor, The Janesville (Wis.) Gazette:

1. About the same.

2. Possibly cutting back as more readers look to the Web for that information and we deal with a smaller news hole and the need to increase local content.

3. About the same now. Plan to increase as we reverse publish the best of local agate that will be made possible with improvement in our Web capabilities.

4. Some interest. To be honest, those pages don't take much time now. So the savings in time would have to more than offset the added cost.

5. We expect to increase and improve local content, so AP agate and other content probably will get less space in the print product. We'll use highlights of national sports agate and content in print and refer to more on the Web.

6. Local, particularly prep sports.

Jim Day, sports editor, Statesman Journal, Salem, Ore.

1. Reduced.

2. Decreasing.

3. More.

4. It's an intriguing idea. Would be difficult to implement in our operation because of daily variations in available space.

5. Not relevant right now.

6. Locally: 1. High school boxes and standings.

Pro, college: 1. NFL boxes and standings; 2. MLB boxes and standings; 3. NBA boxes and standings.

Mat Graf, assistant sports editor, Lexington Herald-Leader.

1. Yes. We have reduced the amount of national college basketball and college football box scores we run. We have also cut back on national horse racing agate and abbreviated some of our golf and auto racing.

2. In the newspaper, I see a slight decrease. On the Web, I see an increase.

3. About the same.

4. We'd have little interest in the agate pages, unless the pages can be somehow easily customized to fit our paper in advance. Baseball and NFL boxes in particular. Other sports material that might be useful would be preview pages on big national or international events such as the Super Bowl, Masters, World Series, NCAA Tournament, etc.

5. As a supplement to what we offer now.

6. Local college, high school and youth results that can be obtained from no other source.

Phil Laciura, sports editor, The Detroit News:

1. No.

2. Staying the same.

3. Less.

4. Minimal.

5. NA

6. The major pro sports: baseball, football, basketball, hockey.

Greg Sprout, sports editor, Wisconsin State Journal, Madison:

1. Yes. We've stopped running agate on non-Big Ten Top 25 college football and basketball.

2. Staying about the same.

3. About the same.

4. No interest.

5. NA

6. Local agate readers cannot get anywhere else.

Jimmy Hart, executive editor, The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, Tenn.

1. Yes, we have reduced the volume of agate, particularly box scores. Part of this was caused by a shift in deadlines as much as priority, but the overriding factor was a desire to get more local agate into the paper. Thus, space for agate was not expanded, but adjusted with local coming first.

2. We have settled into what we consider a proper balance of pro and college agate with the local, so it is expected to remain the same.

3. As previously stated, we use more local sports agate.

4. We have been offered various pro and sports prepared pages and continue to not be interested. But this may change within the next six months as we consider changes to section formats and look for ways to reduce the resources needed to publish non-local content. Prepared print pages ready for publication would certainly help us do that.

5. As a subset. Local sports is our top priority, but the other content could certainly enhance the page is cost effective.

6. Local, pro sports standings with results/schedule, college football and basketball Top 25 polls, college football and basketball standings and scores by region, Nextel Cup results, PGA Tour results.

Marc F. Pendleton, assistant sports editor, Dayton (Ohio) Daily News:

1. Yes. The only expanded MLB box score we run is the Reds. Readers hate it, but ... We limit all MLB to one page, and with a 50-inch web – which will soon be 48 – we just don't have the space to run expanded boxes.

NBA boxes: I remember those. We run Cavs, Pacers and Pistons only, our somewhat regional teams.

College football boxes: only the games we cover.

NFL boxes: All.

2. Decreasing. Our paper continues to shrink. Something has to go, and it's not going to be byline stories. The days of us being everything for everybody are over. That's what our Web site is for. Readers don't like to hear that, but that's reality.

Heck, every decision we make addresses cutting, shrinking and doing less than before: daily pages, available inches, photos, web size, staffing ... You name it.

3. A bit less; trimmed JV scores and records from high school basketball boxes several years ago. We'll print 50-70 boxes on Sundays; so those minor omissions really add up. But so does the reader fallout; they hate it.

Still run local bowling and golf results. Hard time justifying that because too often it's the same names. They're like lunch menus; no one else pays attention, but yank them and the fallout is unbearable.

4. Sounds interesting. We'd prefer a more regional page than, say, what Seattle would want. If we could pre-pick what we want, with built-in space for local results, perhaps that might work. Good luck doing that for every paper. Would probably defeat the one-size-fits-all convenience from your end.

5. We Web everything that's printed, every day. Plenty room for more ... I think.

6. We go back and forth on this. All the expanded results from the major beats we cover are a must. We also insist on running expanded NFL boxes and no – or 1-2 sentence – game summaries. That's great for fantasy players, but sucks for the rest us.

Can't run enough autos agate. Whatever we run, it's never enough. Golf, transactions, The Line, NBA, NFL, MLB standings are staples. College FB top 25; daily men's and women's D-I hoop scores, but not that day's games. Sometimes NHL. Daily TV/radio sked.

Art Martone, sports editor, Providence (R.I.) Journal:

1. Yes, by approximately 20 percent.

2. Staying about the same.

3. About the same.

4. Very little. The reduced size of the section means we cannot consistently guarantee having enough space for pre-produced material. Also, we need the flexibility to cut into virtually every package we produce if space is an issue, something that can't be done with pre-produced pages.

5. We now have an excellent wire/stats package from STATS Inc., giving us little need for this material.

6. Professional summaries (box scores, et al) and standings, followed by local agate that's reported to us and produced by our clerks.

Dave Minthorn, manager, AP News Administration, coordinates the questions and answers. Newspaper editors wishing to suggest a topic can send an e-mail to Minthorn at dminthorn@ap.org.

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