Tribune Co. consolidates national sports beats

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: Tribune Co. consolidates national beats : Posted by Ed S. : at 8/12/2009 4:38 AM CDT on Chicago Business : If you're a regular reader of the Tribune sports section, you've noticed that Sam Farmer is writing columns on the NFL and Chris Dufresne is weighing in on national college football. You're also probably wondering why the Tribune is using Los Angeles Times staffers to cover those beats instead of their regulars: Dan Pompei (NFL) and Teddy Greenstein (national college football). : It is all part of a Tribune Company plan to consolidate the national beats, according to Mike Kellams, the Chicago Tribune's associate managing for sports. He cited last year's Super Bowl, when the company had 14 people covering the event. : "How many people can you have at a Super Bowl when you don't have a team involved?" Mr. Kellams said. "Everyone's reserves are down. We had to look at ways to reorganize how we do things." : The idea is to share more content through Tribune's newspapers. That meant dividing up the national beats. The Tribune's Phil Rogers (baseball) and Shannon Ryan (national college basketball) will continue on their beats. : However, as part of the shake-up, both Mr. Pompei and Mr. Greenstein lost their national beats to LA Times staffers; Mr. Greenstein, though, will cover national golf for the company. : "The LA Times didn't get everything they wanted, and we didn't get everything we wanted," Mr. Kellams said. "We had to make some tough decisions." : I used to write national columns in both college football and golf during my days at the Tribune. Often I would take a national issue and look at it from a local perspective. I know that's how Mr. Pompei and Mr. Greenstein covered their national beats. : I told Mr. Kellams that I was concerned the local perspective would be lost in national columns written by LA Times staffers. After all, Mr. Dufresne is more likely to talk about the Pac 10 than the Big Ten. : "There's something to be said for that," Mr. Kellams said. "But I'd be more concerned if we didn't send (Mr. Pompei) to the NFC North camps. But we are going to send him to those camps. And (Mr. Greenstein) is going to handle the (weekly Big Ten coaches conference call) for us. I think we'll be fine." : Yes, but I think by not having Mr. Pompei and Mr. Greenstein on national beats, you lose their sense of expertise that they bring to the table. When the Sox acquired Alex Rios Monday, I wanted to see what Mr. Rogers had to say about it. If an LA Times staffer was handling national baseball, I never would have gotten that perspective. : Also, I asked Mr. Kellams, does it make sense for a LA Times person to do the national NFL beat when Los Angeles doesn't have a team? : Mr. Kellams countered, "That's exactly the right thing to do. He doesn't have a home team to bind him down." : OK, perhaps my old boss was using a bit of spin there. In an ideal world, Mr. Kellams knows the Tribune and the Los Angeles Times would retain their own national writers. : But he understands nothing is ideal regarding newspapers these days. You do what you have do, and that means sharing for the Tribune Co.

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