Editor’s note: this research was a collaboration between Dr. Miles Romney of Brigham Young University and Dr. Kevin Hull of the University of South Carolina. The full study can be found here.
When the sports world went dark in March 2020, national media outlets had to scramble to fill their empty sports schedules. They mostly did so by turning to the past. CBS Sports showed classic NCAA men’s basketball games, MLB Network showcased great Opening Days of the past, and ESPN resorted to showing old professional wrestling events.
While these national stations could turn back the clock for content, the hundreds of local sports broadcasters throughout the United States could not. These sportscasters rely on filling their segments with highlights of high school sports, interviews with coaches, and videos of local athletes doing something remarkable. However, with all sporting events canceled, local sports broadcasters were suddenly left with nothing to talk about. While many did the initial “what COVID-19 means for local teams and athletes” stories, those quickly dried up. College and high school athletes were sent home, and social distancing dictated that local sports broadcasters could not get any in-person updates from local athletes. The larger, national outlets could simply go into the archive. Local sports broadcasters, who rely on new games and events every single day, had no such option.
Therefore, as researchers we wanted to examine how the jobs and daily routines of local sports broadcasters changed in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak.
How the study was conducted
To determine how the job of a local sports broadcaster changed in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, a survey was sent to local U.S. sports broadcasters in April 2020 during the height of the shutdown. They were asked 20 questions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their job. Questions addressed topics such as how their jobs have changed, their updated salary and work hours, and what they believe the future might hold for the profession. These local sports broadcasters were an equal mix of men and women with a variety of market sizes and geographical locations represented.
What the study found
All the participants reported that they were still working at their television stations, with none of them having been furloughed or forced to take a pay cut. This was a surprising finding considering the dramatic impact the shutdown has had on the media.
Yet, for some, their job duties were changing. Six of the participants said that management was now assigning them to do some news reporting in addition to their sports duties. As we dug deeper into the respondent responses, a number of other themes emerged.
Emphasis on creativity.
The immediate challenge facing local sports broadcasters was producing work remotely. Several of the respondents who had on-air responsibilities stated that they had to transform parts of their homes into pseudo-production studios. For those employed by stations with better resources, that transition went more seamlessly.
However, for those working in smaller markets, or whose stations had fewer resources, the lack of broadcast equipment forced some creative solutions. For example, one respondent reported laying down track to an iPhone from underneath a weighted blanket to reduce unwanted noise. Perhaps the most difficult challenge was the lack of interpersonal contact with those whom they were covering. A majority reported using some type of teleconferencing platform, such as Skype, Zoom, Instagram, Facebook, or FaceTime to perform interviews. The poor video quality and the lack of adequate b-roll at times was problematic. Some felt their story quality was not as strong. However, a few respondents reported some positive results to the televisual interview: the ability to quickly turn around soundbites for stories. Interestingly, at least one respondent even suggested that the lack of traditional television interviewing tools actually prompted deeper responses:
The lack of local sports teams highlights, a staple of local sports programming, forced sports teams to “think outside-the-box.” A respondent said that his team readjusted the pace of their sports programming to fewer stories and highlights. Additionally, this respondent dug deep into the station’s extensive historical collection of sports archive footage from major local sports moments and aired them regularly during the nightly sportscast. Other examples of creative stories offered by respondents include one reporter turning a story on a virtual bingo game at a local nursing home that was hosted by an area college basketball coach, while another was about a local high school hosting virtual cheerleading tryouts. Other stories took a more serious tone, including the challenges facing AAU basketball and the financial fallout of cancelled games on minor league baseball teams.
A shift in daily responsibility and daily workflows.
Most respondents reported that they were still producing/reporting on daily sports content. Four reported mostly doing sports while occasionally helping out on non-sports stories. Two respondents in smaller media markets indicated they have moved almost entirely to news content.
The hourly work schedule varied by market and organization. Some reported that “not much has changed” or “everything is pretty much the same” to their work schedule while for others their schedule changed more dramatically. One was moved to a four-day work week; another was moved from nightside to dayside. For some, their new workspace and schedule was a dramatic slowdown from the often-frenetic pace of a sports broadcaster. A number of stations had plans to travel to upcoming sporting events but when those sporting events were cancelled, sports broadcasters were forced to alter their schedules.
One curious finding centered on how sports broadcasters utilized social media platforms (SMPs). Considering the challenges of producing live television segments, SMPs, which offer fewer technological barriers and, in some cases, wider audience reach, were not strategically targeted during the lockdown. In fact, many respondents suggested that in regards to these platforms they held the status quo. Many already shared most of their stories on social media and continued to so without renewed focus. More on that later.
An Uncertain Future.
The participants in the study expressed some concern about how the shutdown would impact their in-person coverage of sports in the future. The increased use of video technology for interviews was cited by several sportscasters as something that could stay in the future. Access to locker rooms, one-on-one interviews or the media “scrum,” in which multiple journalists all crowd around the same athletes at the same time for an interview, may soon be a thing of the past. Others wondered if stations would be less inclined in the future to send reporters on the road to follow teams as a way to eliminate costs.
What this means for the local broadcast sports industry
Sports broadcasters’ responses to the COVID-19 crisis yielded three primary themes that suggest the impact of the shutdown could alter the local sports broadcasting landscape. Scholars have noted that burnout is a factor in the profession as local sports broadcasters are burdened with increasing responsibilities and demands with little help or compensation. Could news leadership determine that even more — with less — is possible? The strong performance of local sports broadcasters during the COVID-19 crisis might suggest to management that fewer resources, higher expectations, less travel, and smaller departments may not impact viewership numbers. For sports broadcasters already facing tough job prospects — especially for minorities and females, increasing burnout rates and limited resources, suggesting they do more, with less, would likely exacerbate the exodus of experienced broadcasters.
A study of the broadcast industry suggested that many reporters already see their jobs “as a three-to-five-year-type of profession. Just a lot of turnover.” Higher turnover rates would ultimately harm the industry. Smaller markets are especially susceptible to burnout. If local sportscasters leave these positions where they are often used as opportunities for development, ultimately it would leave fewer qualified local sports broadcasters to fill medium and large market positions.
Additionally, the continued focus on the televised product was perplexing. As fewer and fewer viewers tune into local newscasts, digital platforms and SMPs offer new ways to build/strengthen online communities, control brand management, distribute content, and develop possible new revenue streams. The lockdown, the difficulties of producing live television, and the reality that many were in front of screens more than usual, appeared to be an opportune time for local sports broadcasters to strategically develop content for these platforms, yet the respondents offered little indication that was the case. This may be a missed opportunity for local sports broadcasters to build new audiences, strengthen their digital presence, and experiment with SMP content. Broadcasters are wary to not dilute the telecast where they generate a majority of station revenue, which may explain the trepidation towards other platforms; however, losing viewership to emergent local sports media (such as mico-sports sites like those hosted by SB Nation, 24/7 Sports, Sports Illustrated, among others) should be a concern.
