Games are restarting, but few reporters will be there
Many familiar pregame sights won’t be back when baseball and the NBA return later this month. Managers won’t exchange lineup cards at home plate and basketball lineup introductions won’t feature special high fives.
There also won’t be the ritual of a gaggle of reporters crowding around a manager before the game or waiting for LeBron James or Brad Stevens to emerge for interviews after an NBA game.
As U.S. team sports prepare to resume, journalists are facing the same reckoning that their colleagues who cover politics and entertainment have encountered — coming up with new approaches despite reduced access.
“I consider this the most challenging year ever in terms of sports writer coverage,” said Bob Glauber, the NFL writer for Newsday and president of the Pro Football Writers Association.
Professional leagues closed media access to locker rooms and clubhouses in early March. Even when the games restart, that access is not going to return immediately.
The NBA is the only league that will allow reporters to ask players questions in the same room, and that will be a very limited group.
The league will allow no more than 10 media members to live full-time in the Walt Disney World bubble where all the NBA players will also live and play.
The reporters must quarantine for seven days after arriving. Besides covering games, the reporters will be allowed access to the postgame media room and practices. They won’t be able to see leave the resort or have visitors for as long as they stay, and the rest of the season should last about 72 days.
Reporters covering games in Orlando but not residing in the bubble can watch from the stands and will only be allowed to interview players on Zoom. The NBA’s credential advisory states no more than 12 media members will be allowed in this group, which will not attend any news conferences or practices.
Manager, coach and player interviews in baseball and the NHL will happen via Zoom, not in casual conversations in the clubhouse or the rink.
The NFL is not allowing any face-to-face interviews with players during training camp. Coaches will be available, socially distanced, depending on the team.
Journalists have seen access declining in recent years, especially as leagues and college athletic programs have taken more control of team’s messaging through their team sites and channels.
Many journalists worry that less access can mean less oversight, especially with players sometimes feuding with teams and leagues about safety issues and making political statements. “The best, most compelling stories require personal interaction and opportunities to see how the people we cover handle themselves on the job, how they act in the clubhouse or locker room and what they say when the recorder turns off,” said Kerry Crowley, who covers the San Francisco Giants for the Bay Area News Group. “I’m not confident leagues are going to restore writers’ access to the level it was at before the coronavirus pandemic and I think publications, individual writers and the athletes we will all suffer because of that.”
Many organizations are assessing whether it is worth it to send reporters to games if locker rooms remain closed.