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| (above) Contact the Denver Post about DU hockey coverage or risk seeing DU's flagship sport falling off the mainstream media highway |
Several LetsGoDU readers of the Denver Post noticed that the DU hockey coverage was significantly reduced last week. No mid-week article on the team, no preview on the series on Friday and then a pathetic four paragraph AP story on the game on Friday night.
We've been spoiled over the past few years with excellent DU hockey coverage by the Post. Mike Chambers, Adrian Dater, Terry Frei and Mark Kiszla have done an amazing job covering the Pioneers after the demise of the Rocky Mountain News.
The Post deserves credit for stepping forward and covering college hockey better than any other large newspaper in recent years. Far better than the Boston Globe, the Star-Tribune and New York papers combined. But now our coverage is being compromised and DU's flagship sport will inevitably suffer if the trend continues.
Contact Denver Post Sports Editor Scott Monserud [smonserud@denverpost.com] ASAP unless you want the largest paper in the Rockies covering CU's 1-8-0 football program exclusively in the fishwrap.
13 comments:
Open letter emailed to Denver Post.
Scott Monserud
Denver Post
Sports Editor
Scott,
DU hockey fans noticed reduced media coverage of the University of Denver hockey program last week in the Denver Post.
University of Denver hockey coverage is extremely important to the 100,000 plus DU alums who live in the Rocky Mountain region. DU alums tend to be more affluent, sophisticated newspaper readers than average sports fans. They also are a demographics that advertisers love to reach.
College hockey fans from all over the country also hit the Post website to check out your coverage of the Pioneers.
The Post has done an amazing job covering the Pioneers in recent seasons. Let's not ignore DU's flagship sport and keep the Post coverage of college hockey the best of any major newspaper in the country.
Have a nice day.
Kind Regards,
Damien Goddard
DU '88
Anyone that would give 14ers a press pass doesn’t get my vote.
Let's face it, the Post has become a shadow of it's former self. Thinner each day. News coverage has been drastically cut and now it looks like the sports section is suffering the same fate. In a year or two, there won't be a daily print edition. Which is why blogs, like Let's Go DU, will become even more important.
No doubt we've been lucky with the Post thus far. A ton of the credit goes to Mike Chambers who has been covering DU hockey for 17 years.
The problem with Blogs covering sports teams is that they are volunteer efforts that disappear overnight depending on the whims of their creators. Also, Blogs don't have access to the players, coaches & teams that the mainstream media receive.
I think part of this is seasonal, too.
DU hockey gets little coverage in October, November and December when the sports agenda is crowded. Hockey picks up a little more in January when football is winding down. You also see this same improvement in ticket sales.
I'd love to see hockey start around Thanksgiving, but we'd never be able to compete with major junior for players, as MY starts in Sept.
We're a niche school(small and private) playing a niche brand (college hockey) inside a niche sport (ice hockey in general).
We need to be grateful for any and all ink and airtime we get.
What's most ironic, is that there is no Avalanche coverage now. If the Avs were up and running, playing really well and leading the NHL...and DU coverage was overshadowed....I could maybe understand. Where are all those nhl fans??? I think alot of them are not as hardcore as they think. Most diehard fans would want hockey any way they could get it, in this situation. DU can't fill the arena up at this point. Very confusing.
Got word from DU this morning that they are aware of this issue with the Denver Post. Its been an ongoing battle and they work hard for space in the sports section.
Sending emails to the sports editor can work, particularly if you subscribe to the Post or buy it regularly.
Just got word that the Denver Post ran an article about DU hockey today. I will post the article link ASAP.
Turns out that the DU hockey fans who noticed the weak coverage fired off some emails over the weekend to the Post.
Must of worked. :-)
No radio coverage for the first 2 games certainly didn't help, nor does zero TV coverage until the end of November...
CU has a football team?? I've seen junior high schools that look better.
D.G -- I'll write an email later tonight. The Post still does a great job with us, but it's good to keep 'em honest.
You should take a look at the article about Royce O'Neale in the Sunday Post. Good stuff, great to see a little preseason ink for the basketball team!
I have to be honest... I haven't read a newspaper since the Rocky Mountain News went under.
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