Being called a “sellout” is not especially flattering. However, in the context of helping a broadcast station or a team sell all of its advertising for upcoming playoff games, the term “sellout” is very positive. It might even help you retain your play-by-play position and gain a promotion in the process.
Let’s say that the high school or college sport you are covering has reached the midway point of its season. Perhaps you are handling the play-by-play broadcasts of a local school, or those covering a number of schools in a defined region. If that is the case, then you are advised to be proactive and determine whether one or more local schools have the potential to reach post-season play. By doing so, you may afford yourself the opportunity to call some playoff games and make a little extra cash in the short-term; and possibly pave the way toward enhancing your status with the station or team that is employing you.
Most play-by-play arrangements cover regular-season schedules, since there is obviously no guarantee of a team or teams reaching the playoffs. But, if a local team is fortunate to reach post-season play, a sales manager or top team official may ask if you can extend your pre-game shows so more advertisers can join the post-season fun. When the opportunity blossoms, don’t be a shrinking violet! Say “Yes, I can!”, and then start planning for that opportunity.
Hopefully you record each game that you broadcast, any interviews involving the potential playoff team or their regular-season opponents, and sportscasts featuring stories about that team. Hopefully, you have also saved and compiled any statistics, newspaper clippings and material found in Internet blogs and message boards regarding the potential playoff team. You can use those archive materials as effective and entertaining filler to extend the pre-game show in a nearly-infinite fashion. That will allow your sales department to sell more ads, and allow the station or team to make more money. And, that should reflect very favorably on you.
So, how does one extend a pre-game show from 5-15 minutes in length to an hour or more? Here is a sample informal outline that can help you organize the extension of a standard pre-game show for post-season broadcasts:
- Prologue/Sponsor Billboard/Live Introduction
- Historical Notes (First time in the playoffs? Perennial Power?)
- Regular-Season Highlights
- Current Post-Season Highlights (if you join the team after the playoffs began)
- Coaches Interviews
- Key Stats & Trends–Both Teams
- Key Players–Both Teams
- Coaches Clipboard–Keys to the Game
- Starting Lineups
- Fill to Opening Kickoff /Tip-Off / First Pitch
If you take a commercial break between the numbered items, that gives you 9 breaks to utilize for advertising. So, if each of those breaks are 2-3 minutes in length, you and the sales team could have at least an extra 18-27 minutes of advertising inventory just for the extended pre-game show! And, if you structure halftime in a similar fashion within the finite amount of time at your disposal until the 2nd half begins, there will be a few more opportunities to squeeze in ads and generate more revenue.
Ultimately, that is what influences broadcast stations and teams to conduct play-by-play broadcasts. Very few of them do it just as a public service without a profit motive. By exhibiting a willingness to extend post-season pre-game shows, the additional revenue generated from playoff broadcasts may determine whether the entire season was a profit or loss, and whether there will be broadcasts at all for the following season.
When I was employed at KWRE-AM/KFAV-FM in Warrenton, Missouri, there was at least one team in our region that reached the state high school playoffs in football and basketball each season. By recording all of my play-by-play broadcasts and sports interviews, and saving stat sheets and newspaper stories, I had enough material to extend playoff pre-game shows as far as necessary to accommodate all of the advertisers that wanted to join us. That may have played a role in allowing me to be the news and sports director there for 14 years, and to hone my broadcasting talents for future opportunities…one of which I am currently enjoying at Washington University in St. Louis.
So be a sellout! Your station or team will be thankful, and you stand to reap short-term and long-term financial and developmental success along the way.
