Stuart Sternberg, the principal owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, says a pending move to bar reporters from Major League Baseball locker rooms would be a big mistake. Choking off media access could stem the flow of publicity, he says, both positive and negative.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Sternberg said. “You’ve got all these people around writing and caring and covering and photographing and blogging and whatnot. And you wake up one day and nobody’s there.”

Sternberg’s remarks came during a question-and-answer session at The Poynter Institute, which convened the three principal owners of Tampa Bay’s major sports franchises for a conversation with the Associated Press Sports Editors. Also in attendance were Jeffrey Vinik, owner of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning and Bryan Glazer, the owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team.

The question of media access to professional sports was raised by Ron Fritz, the executive sports editor at The Baltimore Sun, who noted that the owners touted transparency but belong to leagues that have a sometimes strained relationship with the press.

Sternberg emphasized the importance of working with journalists to provide “as much access as we possibly can,” especially to local outlets that produce the bulk of coverage.

Continue reading Ban reporters from the locker room? Bad for sports, bad for journalism