Using Technology to Build from the Ground Up
If you’re a Sports Information Director at a small school and you’re working with an under-funded budget, chances are you read some of the technology-oriented articles on CoSIDA.com with envy. I know I do. After four years at Washington College (that’s in Maryland, unlike the University of Washington or Washington University), the wheels here are starting to turn on ideas like wireless Internet access and webcasting, but we’re just not there yet financially.
Still, embracing cost-effective technology can be instrumental in building a small-school sports information office from the ground up or in taking a small shop to that proverbial next level.
-Digital Photography
One of the first things I requested for our office when I arrived here four years ago was a digital camera. We couldn’t splurge on the top-of-the-line digitals that run into the thousands, but it was easy for me to present the case that spending a few hundred dollars on a print-quality digital camera would slash developing costs considerably over several years. While our camera, like most other digitals that fall in the $400-$600 range, does not do a great job with action photos (we use student photographers and the occasional professional for that), it has still proven quite useful. With a digital camera, taking a shot of a championship trophy presentation, a head shot of a new coach, or a shot of your softball field is quick and easy, with no need to spend money or time on developing (unless you actually need a print) and with no need to fill an entire roll of film. We’re snapping headshots for all of our athletes without spending an extra dime and the transition from camera to web site is a snap.
-Time Well Spent on the Web
Putting head shots and brief bios of all of our athletes online was one of many changes I instituted with our web site. While I was lucky enough to be given somewhat of a free reign over our site, including design, an ambitious SID can make a big impact on his or her school’s athletics web site even if they are handcuffed by using a college-mandated layout. While the concept of small schools using the web to make up for budget deficiencies has become somewhat cliche, it merits mention.
Is your budget lacking in money to produce flashy publications for all (or in some cases any) of your sports? Put the information that would have gone into the publication on the web. Are some of your school’s sports being ignored by local media? Make your web site a place where parents and fans can go to the get the latest news on your teams. If you maintain an informative and up-to-date web site, parents, fans, alumni, donors, etc., will notice. Devoting more time and energy to an athletic web site is one of the most effective ways to improve the quality of a sports information office or department without spending any extra money.
-Live Stats
A growing web site trend in college athletics is Internet broadcasting. While many of us at smaller, low budget schools wait for the costs of broadcasting to come even further down (and wait for competent volunteer or student play-by-play personnel to fall from the sky), there is an alternative that can work as a reasonably acceptable substitute. Stat Crew, which a majority of conferences have mandated as the official statistical software providers for some or all of their sports, can be used to create live Internet stats. At a one-time cost of $350, Stat Crew’s TASFtp allows you to provide text play-by-play and online stats to your school’s fans for sports which you score with StatCrew in game. Washington College was the first school in the Centennial Conference to offer live stats when we used introduced them during the 2004 men’s lacrosse season. This past year, we added men’s and women’s basketball to the mix and will be adding volleyball this fall and we have plans to continue adding sports as the ability to connect to the Internet (be it by Ethernet, phone line, or wireless) is introduced at more of our playing venues. The positive fan response has been overwhelming.
-Game Programs
Like a lot of SIDs at schools like mine, my event programs are limited to black-and-white photocopies. With a little effort and creativity, these can still be attractive. Using a different photo in each program makes them unique. Find a layout for game programs that makes them look like more than black-and-white copies of two teams’ rosters. Use a desktop publishing application to design them instead of a word processing program. Again, the aim here is to improve quality without inflating cost. Even a black-and-white 8.5 x 11 photocopy can become a keepsake if it stands out.
-Score Hotline
Event programs and live Internet stats generally only apply to home games. An easy way that technology can help you on the road is the sports hotline. If you have a cell phone and your department has a sports hotline, be creative with how you use it. If you’re on the road with a team at a conference or NCAA playoff game and there’s no radio or Internet broadcast coverage available to your fans, turn that sports hotline into an almost-real-time update of the game by calling in with frequent updates of the score and recent action. I’ve used this method several times over the last four years with much success. Putting a notice on your athletics web site before an important event that these updates will be available will make your fans aware of it. If you have an extra student-worker or someone else to help available, this can also be used for home events.