The couple links I bring tonight are all solid. In fact they each could have easily gotten their own posts had I not been working on other things today, including the ground work of a possible new design for this site (yeah that’s a long ways off though). Still each are very interesting and deserve a full read if you haven’t done so already.

I want to kickoff things tonight with a look on the issue of reporting coverage surrounding Major League Soccer. Tom over at Pitch Invasion posted a fantastic article earlier today about the lagging media coverage that MLS is getting hit by, particularly in the newspaper industry.

The main question asked is if/when will MLS clubs begin to hire their own beat writers for newspaper similar to what one hockey team in the NHL is doing. Honestly the ship has probably sailed for the league to do something like that since they have so many team blogs now and the cost of hiring a beat writer is probably a bit too much to handle.

It comes down to an industry thing in the newspaper business. I know first hand from working part-time at the Dallas Morning News that coverage for all sports not named football (NFL) or baseball are going down. Yes even NBA coverage is slipping a bit in some markets believe it or not. It also comes down to each newspaper going more digital and having writers be bloggers.

Take the Morning News for an example, their soccer coverage is next to nothing. I know they have a stringer for games and what not but they don’t staff a blogger nor even appear to want one.

I still believe we are a ways away from seeing a club hire a full-time beat writer or even blogger to follow the club on away games just to get their stories in the local paper. For one it is an investment that I believe some clubs just won’t be willing to make.

At the end of the day the thing that is more missed than just a box score in the paper is an objective voice that sees the team and doesn’t just fill copy in paper from a stringer that produces a few lines. Continue Reading…