April 22, 2009

Pocatello, ID --- On The 39th anniversary of the very first Earth Day, Idaho State Athletics has announced several changes that fit right in with the Earth Day motif. For the 2009-10 athletic year, ISU will join several other schools nationally and not print media guides next year for any sport. Also, the Bengals will not print out their weekly media releases and game notes for home contests next year, and recycling bins will be located inside of Holt Arena, Reed Gym, and Davis Field for ISU home contests. Media guides will still be created, but they will be available on thumb drives and CDs, as well as online. Media releases will also be available online.

The change in philosophy mirrors a growing national trend among college athletic departments in terms of no longer printing media guides. Earlier this year, Fresno State announced that they were eliminating printing all media guides, and most of schools in the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference have also eliminated printed media guides. Many other schools around the nation are also contemplating the same move. In the 2008 Olympics, all media guides for U.S sports were available on CD only, and this year the NHL and MLB made all guides available via the web and on CD and DVD for the media covering those sports.

There is a practical costs savings in the decision as well, as the decision will save an estimated $15,000 per year. However, on Earth Day, it's appropriate to talk of the environmental savings as well, as the mailing, printing, and distribution of media guides and weekly game notes and releases produces over 3,000 pounds, or over 1 ½ tons of paper each year. ISU will also save significantly in bulk mailing costs, as last year it costs nearly $5 to mail a single media guide.

The concept isn't totally new at Idaho State, as starting with the 2007-08 year, media guides for golf, tennis, softball, and track and field were produced online only. Now joining them will be football, men's basketball, women's basketball, soccer, and volleyball.

"This decision certainly helps both our environment and our budget," said Interim Director of Athletics Jeff Tingey. "The way information is presented is constantly evolving. This is the next step in that process, at least for Idaho State, and it's definitely a national trend."

Individual sports may opt to have a few copies of guides printed locally to have for in-home visits and recruiting, since the online guides will mirror a printed guide. One bonus in the switch to online/CD versions is since the media guides at ISU contained a fixed amount of pages due to the cost, the online versions can actually be bigger.

"One of the funny things in the last few years was that as the program's kept growing, the guides had to stay a certain size due to budget reasons," said Assistant A.D. for Media Relations Frank Mercogliano, whose office produces most of the materials. "Every year the type in the guides was getting smaller and smaller, and we kept cramming things in and wedging pictures and facts in every nook and cranny. Now, we can just add some more pages, because that budget constraint is gone."

The recycling bins at ISU's home events next year should help reduce the amount of garbage sent to the Pocatello Landfill, and it fits in line with Pocatello's recycling initiative. The City of Pocatello in early April started the first curbside recycling program in the state, and over 20% of Pocatello residences signed up for $5 per month service. Boise and Meridian have stated that they will now follow suit with a curbside recycling program as well. Bins will be located in several places throughout the different venues for things like plastic bottles and other recyclable items.