The Big Ten Conference is held their annual football media day at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago on Monday & Tuesday. Whenever these events arise, I am often asked, “What is it like?” Well, here is a look at the Big Ten’s Media Day….
At the beginning of the day the members of the media check in, where they start collecting the media guides for the various Big Ten teams. The University of Wisconsin announced a while back that they would not put out a print version of their media guide this year as a cost saving measure, only offering an on-line version. The Badgers are not alone with this move, as Michigan and Ohio State are taking the same route, only publishing an on-line version.
Each Big Ten team is represented by the head coach along with three players. Representing Wisconsin, were Bret Bielema, senior TE Garrett Graham, senior DL O’Brien Schofield and senior LB Jaevery McFadden.
Monday starts off with press conferences in the main hall. Each coach is scheduled to address the media for a total of 15 minutes. They start with opening remarks, and then field questions from the crowd. There are typically 200-300 members of the media in the room at any time, and they are from a wide variety of organizations. You may have one guy sitting next to you from an independent website and someone from ESPN on the other side. Notables covering Wisconsin yesterday included multiple people from the Milwaukee Journal, Wisconsin State Journal, various websites, Time Warner Sports and of course, SportsBubbler.com. Other notables in the crowd included Rod Woodson, Pat Forde, the current Chicago Bears that are also Big Ten alums, Wayne Larrivee, Matt Millen representing ESPN and representatives from every bowl game the Big Ten is involved with.
Not long after the coaches press conferences get underway, TV interviews begin. What happens here, is that you have another room set up with a station in each of four corners. These stations are set up press conference style, with a table, backdrop, name plates and microphones. Each TV station in attendance is assigned one of the four stations. The groups come in and rotate around the room counter clockwise. This way, each station there gets a shot at every player and team. At any given time you may have Wisconsin in the right corner, Michigan in the far right, Illinois on the far left and Northwestern on the near left. For the record, Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald is one of the most impressive coaches out there. He his hard nosed, humorous and really knows how to speak to the crowd. Northwestern should do everything they can to hold on to him.
As players exit the TV room, the local media typically jumps at the chance to get one-on-one interviews in the hall way. While there are plenty of chances to speak to the players prior, this is where you typically get the more personal questions, a chance to get the players when they are a little more relaxed.
Throughout day one, the members of the media are scurrying back and forth from the various rooms to their home base to update blogs, write their stories and update videos.
Wisconsin Head Coach Bret Bielema is always gracious enough to hold a separate meeting of sorts, where he talks with the members of the Wisconsin media in a little less formal of a setting.
Day two starts off with print/radio interviews. Here you have a large room with players and coaches spread out throughout the room, each having their own table. Members of the media can sit down one-on-one or in a group and interview all of them on an individual basis. In a way, it somewhat resembles a massively confusing game of musical chairs.
When the radio/print interviews are over, the players all gather for pictures, where you have a photo of all three representatives of each team. Followed by the coaches in a group shot – not every day you can get people like Bret Bielema, Rich Rodriguez, Kirk Ferentz, Ron Zook, Jim Tressel and the infamous Joe Paterno all in the same photo.
When the pictures are done, it is time for the fans to get their shot. Each school sets up a decorated table with their mascot, coach and players, and fans can come through and get autographs. The lines can be long, but fans can never get this type of access, at least not all in the same place.
When the fan session is over, it is time for the formal luncheon. As the members of the media disappear into their workrooms, the players, coaches, athletic directors and boosters gather in the main ballroom for the Kickoff Luncheon. A sight to see, to say the least. The players are introduced as they come in, and then head to the layers of head tables, where each player and coach sit facing the crowd with their school helmets in front of them.
When the day is done and the players and coaches head out on the town to enjoy the event – that is when the members of the media really get to work, writing their stories, editing their videos, filing their reports. Events like these are a dream for any sports fan, but when you are there as a member of the media, it is all work, trying to get that perfect comment, that perfect quote, to give your readers something that no one else has.
Please enjoy the photo gallery and videos below, and get ready for Big Ten football!!
CLICK HERE for the BigTen Media Day Photo Gallery
Now are you ready for another season of Badger football?