When the Message Owns the Media

The internet was a big boon to minor and independent sports leagues and teams.  Everyone from ESPN to the local fishwrap used to ignore them, favoring college sports and the majors.  What better way to get the word out than via the Internet, where anyone interested could tune in?

Major League Baseball kicked off the trend of building your own internal news organization to create a full-on publication when they launched MLB.com.  Last year MLB.com took over the operation of the Minor League Baseball website.  Other leagues great and small followed suit. 

The leagues derive a small amount of revenue from their site operations.  More importantly, though, they have a developed "mouthpiece" that provides them control and spin on the message.

There weren't many hard-hitting steroids pieces on MLB.com when the steroid news was hot in the independent and corporate news media.  When UHL owner James Galante was lead off the ice after allegedly slugging an official, the UHL's site didn't have much to say about the incident.  Nor did they come up with much after the league slapped Galante with a fine.

We've noticed, too, a peculiar reluctance to release prime tidbits of news in a timely fashion, or to share information when the interests of the other publications and the league's own publication come into conflict.  We wanted to roll out a nice piece on the American Hockey League's new Hall of Fame.  After multiple requests, the league provided no information on the HOF until their general release as a news story on the day of the inductions. It protected their own coverage on their site.

Organizations also use their news flow to punish independent publications for being independent. Earlier this year, the Florida Marlins announced that they had received permission to examine a move out of Florida.  They offered up a few rumored markets that we knew had major flaws.  So we published a story called "Fleeing Fish" which exposed those, talked about the Marlins' dilemma, and looked at the other markets that could financially support a major league ballclub.

The Florida Marlins restricted our access to cover teams this Spring, citing that they do not allow "new media" to cover Spring Training.  Yet we were granted credentials three times last season to do our work evaluating their developing players. 

Meanwhile MLB.com's staff had unrestricted access to their players, locker rooms and fields favoring Major League Baseball's authorized organization who will work within the Ostrich rules of reporting. 

The old adage "There is no such thing as bad publicity," does not function in an internet age where leagues controlling their news flow can improve the audience for their controlled publications at the expense of the independents and those who do not pay to cover their league. It also allows these private businesses a huge opportunity to keep the lid on negative news, from steroids to failing franchises that may impact their bottom line.

The First Amendment generally gets tossed around over weighty issues like politics and finance.  The public does have a right to know though in sports.

We investigated the so-called World Hockey Association 2 (WHA-2), the minor league of the major league that never really came to fruition.  We've reported on the activities of owners who move into towns to milk local fans out of what they can quickly, who don't have the capital to operate beyond a year or two.  We praised Major League Baseball's tough stand on drugs with its minor league policy two years ago, and exposed the MLBPA's unwillingness to bring the major leaguers under that agreement a year before the "major" publications dealt with the issue.

Since its inception, Minor League News (MLN) has been the one publication that takes on controversial subjects that the league and team mouthpiece websites do not.

Minor League Baseball used to send out daily releases. Now they are sporadic. Some teams will tell us to "check their site" for information, rather than provide either email with links or with content. 

Dragging on the news flow may seem like a great idea to the short-sighted.  Supporting the independent news outlets that build audience and following for the products of these teams and leagues though requires fair and equal access to the news that makes up the daily and monthly cycle.

What is also being missed is the magician-like misdirection.  If these league.com sites become the primary source of news-first, they will inevitably steer you where the marketing powers of these businesses want you to go.

Take MiLB.com.  The focus remains on the big funnel up to the major leagues. Come watch future superstar X who will play for the [Insert Major League Club Here] in the next year or three.  They run that spin because that's still what Major League Baseball wants the minor leagues to be.

Yet 41 million fans largely have a very different outlook.  Many could give a damn about the Houston Astros.  They come out with their kids to have a good time, get a baseball signed, and see their hometown Round Rock Express.  They're not big "B" baseball fans.

Does anyone seriously think that people in Odessa turn out for hockey to see up and coming players headed to the NHL?  Lightning may strike this computer as I type faster than 99% of those guys will end up in an NHL uni.  

Millions of people go to watch Arena Football because they like arena football, not because it's some stepping-stone to the NFL.

There are more than 695 teams in minor and independent sports at the moment.  Even the ones that are in the triple-A of their sport, who consider themselves above the fray, should take stock. The independent media doesn't go away because of the choke-down on news flow.  If anything, it tends to make us more than a bit curious as to what they are hiding, or what spin they are putting on their product that the public reads and consumes.

What the leagues and teams rely upon is the fundamental laziness of the public.  Gas goes up to $3.00 without much outrage. No one complains about MiLB.com's coverage as long as there are a few bones on the players for the rotisserie leaguers thrown in.

Our focus is your focus.  We want to talk about the people who you see every day.  Our goal is to show you when operators of teams or leagues may not provide you the best entertainment dollar for your money.  Sports needs independent voices, just as other forms of news do.  On this side of the sports business, MLN is that voice.

 - Brian Ross