Who Prints Media Guides and Notes In A Growing Digital World? No One Seemed To Know, So We Asked…

This past summer, when we had nothing better to do, we dispatched our intern Wynne Kenna on a project we had wondered about. How many teams, in the four men’s major leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB) still print materials? It came about after the time we spent in and around FIFA for both the Club World Cup and the World Cup, as well as myriad other events in the past few years.

FIFA, with its concentration on reducing waste in any and every form, printed almost nothing for the World Cup this summer.  Match notes and rosters were found online (to the point where NY/NJ broadcast media had to print rosters and other things they needed at a local Staples and then bring those pieces to the matches), and while we were wandering around listening to pregame conversations, the fans from around the world were surprised…and disappointed (though not in huge numbers…that there was no commemorative program for them to take home. Paper in volume equals waste.

Now that’s not to  say there was not an on demand way to get certain mementos. A search through the FIFA online store produced a place where you could order commemorative tickets for the games you were at, a nice, low output, edition to the overall experience (which came after the matches were finished in a nice little package)

But match notes and rosters in the press box? The shelves were bare.

So we figured we would ask around to see who actually still prints things as part of their work with the media. Have we gone to just the most cost and time effective way across the board of digital only? Or is there still value in a combination of the handheld and the information on your fingertips?

We asked the leagues first to see if they had a handle on who printed what. The answer, across the board, was no. No one had really asked. So we sent Wynee out on her email and phone journey to get some answers on three fronts; game notes, a hard media guide, and roster sheets, with the last either being as a tool for media to use or even for fans as sellable collateral.

Here is what we found out, with each of the four leagues having a response of at least half.

 The first, and maybe most self-evident, is that the decisions are ,made on a combination of finances, media interest and even outside forces. For example, the state of California has in place restrictions on what one can actually print. So if you are the San Diego Padres for example, even if you wanted to print hard game notes, you probably could risk a fine. So that’s a lot of trees being saved out west.

Then you have the issue of declining media attendees from outlets and platforms,  which in most cases significantly shrinks the number of hard copies of anything you may need. Factor in those teams that have proactively courted and give access to newer forms of media…online sites, video first creators, audio only platforms and the like…and the need for deep dives on information the way they were used in the past also shrinks. If you don’t know to look for game notes in a press box, why would they be there?

On the broadcast side, we have slowly started to morph into remote broadcasts for niche and rising sports, and the need for real time data and information going directly into control centers, so those calling games are much more used to being fed information digitally and in real time. Their prep work is at their fingertips, and the need for fast and accurate, with the help of trained AI models (see our post from this past weekend) can help speed through with information needed as the broadcast unfolds much better than scrambling through hard pages of books.

So what did we find?

Lets look at the numbers

Overall, of the combined four major league clubs 122 in all, less than half still see value in printed media guides of the past. The league that drove the number to less than half is the NHL, with MLB still having the most, the NFL a majority, and the NBA nearing a split. With regard to notes and rosters, most teams still are printing on day of game, although again the numbers drop with every passing year. Ironically on rosters and small programs available for fans that are also distributed to media, the number appears to have risen in the past few years, despite the fact that many teams fully understand the value of driving consumers to team websites even on game days.

The sports with the longer breaks in action…MLB and NFL…all seem to print more than the NHL and NBA, with several suggesting that the time to read through hard copies is just longer, and fans still indicate an interest in printed pieces, even in limited quantities.

 Major League Baseball

Maybe it’s the length of the season, the traditions of baseball, the media demo which still skews older, but the reporting MLB teams mostly indicated that the printed word is still alive and well. All but three reporting clubs still print media guides and game notes that are readily available, and a growing majority offer up scoresheets and rosters both for fans and members of the media. While print volume is way down and very few teams still mail media guides in masse to local media as was the tradition in the past, hard copies are alive and well in MLB. Now that does not mean the migration to digital is by any means not in place. All MLB teams do take full advantage of the resources MLB robustly offers to offset and augment printed materials and service all areas of media, and several teams have started to take advantage of the AI license MLB has provided to teams to free up time and relationship building for clubs.

NFL:

The repondees pointed to a growing number of teams not printing guides into the future, although still more then 2/3 of the teams do print limited runs, and few if any mail hard copies of printed guides. All but four teams who reported in do print game notes and all teams are taking full advantage of the digital outlets away from game days. Rosters and lineups are still widely in use.

NBA:

In the middle of the pack was the NBA, where the split amongst respondees was almost even, with about half of teams currently printing media guides. On the game notes side, the majority still print notes for media on game days, although all pointed out the usage of print and the requests for notes continues to drop every year as more teams drive towards more updated digital content. Teams are also mentioning closely looking into more advanced AI tools to automate updates as the tools and licenses become more readily available.

NHL:

By far the league that has gone digital first is the NHL. Among the respondees only six acknowledged actually printing media guides this year, with a majority still printing game notes for those media attending games. The response on rosters/small programs was pretty split across the league, although the focus for anything printed fell more to fan items than media.

So what’s the takeaway? Challenging budgets, rising costs and the need to continue to grow with a digital world are driving change, along with the way media are becoming accustom to consuming information. The need for automated stats and the adaption of AI tools, is also helping to drive teams away from printed items, although most respondees feel that for the foreseeable future…even perhaps with a fee…hard copies still play a valuable role.

Yes the numbers are dropping, but the need for many still exists for now.