Howe: B1G Media Day Different Experience

Annual Event Less About Journalists, Fans These Days

The Big Ten championship trophies are displayed on July 26, 2022 during Big Ten Media Day at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

Big Ten head coaches and select student-athletes from each school descend on Indianapolis this week for the conference's annual "media days." They serve as the unofficial kickoff to a new season. 

Having attended the event all but once since first showing up in 1998, it's changed a lot. I'm old. A lot has changed, including my waist and hair lines. 

Back in the day, representatives from the programs sat around tables answering media questions for two hours. We could get personal, like the time a media member from Nebraska asked Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz for an autograph. He wasn't an Iowa fan. It was for his girlfriend. She was. 

OK, so that was not useful or a good reflection on the journalism profession. But it was funny. And it happened when we had two hours. 

The Big Ten reduced time with coaches from an hour last year to 45 minutes this week. The student-athlete window remained at 30 minutes. Instead of a more personal setting at tables, the interviewees sit at a podium. 

The experience also has changed for public. After those two-hour media sessions, fans from each team took part in a meet-and-greet with players and coaches. There were autographs before a luncheon.

The luncheon went away with COVID-19. So, too, did a memorable speech by a selected student-athlete that took place at it annually. The impressive lineup included a talk by former Minnesota specialist, Casey O'Brien, a four-time cancer survivor. 

Those days were filled with energy. Mascots were running around. There were life-size bobbleheads of coaches and former star athletes. It felt like an always memorable season would be here soon. 

I don't want to come off as a complainer. I'm thankful to still be working in a profession that continually threatens to leave me behind. 

Great stories will be told this week even if there's less time to obtain them. And perhaps the ones we miss will be authored throughout the season. 

We'll still scratch the college football itch this week. News updates from the coaches and notes from student-athletes will arrive. It's the current conference kickoff to the season. 

It's now designed to benefit the conference's television partners. They receive a lot of access. Plenty of interviews obtained by them this week will be used throughout the season during broadcasts and for promotion. 

They pay a lot for that availability. Their financial stability keeps them from blinking at what they spend in Indy this week. 

One wonders about the future of this event for media not so monetarily stable, however. The industry is struggling on a lot of levels. With tighter budgets, maybe companies redirect those travel funds. 

Iowa provides plenty of access to its athletic programs throughout the year. The interviews we conduct this week can take place on campus. 

We've already interviewed Iowa player reps in Indy - Cooper DeJean, Jay Higgins and Luke Lachey - this offseason. We could interview them again at the program's media day in a few weeks. 

I know. Who cares, Howe? What does that mean for me? 

Probably not a whole lot. Coverage of Iowa will be shallow compared to what you'll get other times during the year. 

And maybe that's OK. You should be enjoying your summer anyway. 

So, don't mind me. I'm just a cranky journalist on the road to Indianapolis waving my arm out the window at a cloud, who may or may not be stopping at the Beef House.