Expanded sports coverage for the Lansing community

What The Lansing Journal wants to offer our readers

by Melanie Jongsma, Publisher

LANSING, Ill. (August 11, 2021) – Increased sports coverage is something readers have requested for years, and we’ve been working to meet that need.

You’ve seen some early results. This past spring Managing Editor Josh Bootsma reported on the TF South badminton team’s Olympic connection, the TF South baseball team’s match-up against the Lansing Police Department, the TF South track team’s showing at state, TF North vs. TF South rivalries in football and baseball, and even a unique golf program offered by Freedom Church and Olympia Fields Country Club. He attended games, took photos, made phone calls, and stayed up late in order to make sure sports articles appeared in subscriber inboxes the morning after each game.

That’s a lot to take on, considering (1) Josh’s other responsibilities as Managing Editor, and (2) the vast variety of sports at TF South.

So many sports

The TF South athletics program offers 23 different sports to student athletes, in 3 different seasons:

Fall sports
1. Cross Country – Boys
2. Cross Country – Girls
3. Football
4. Golf
5. Soccer – Boys
6. Swimming – Girls
7. Tennis – Girls
8. Volleyball – Girls

Winter sports
9. Basketball – Boys
10. Basketball – Girls
11. Bowling- Boys
12. Bowling – Girls
13. Cheerleading
14. Dance
15. Swimming – Boys
16. Wrestling

Spring sports
17. Badminton
18. Baseball
19. Soccer – Girls
20. Softball
21. Tennis – Boys
22. Track and Field – Boys
23. Track and Field – Girls

If The Lansing Journal is going to cover Lansing sports, we want to cover them all. And we want to do it well. We think our community deserves that.

Very local coverage

Certainly, we plan to be at as many football games and cross country meets as possible, but we want to offer more.

We want to make sure our readers know about swimming, and bowling, and competitive dance, and tennis. We want to publish the names of kids who are participating on all 23 TF South teams. We want to share their photos. We want to report on the unique highlights from those lesser-known games. We want to celebrate the victories and understand the defeats. We want to create a well-rounded record of Lansing student athletes and their accomplishments — articles that their families can share with the cousins or print out for grandma.

That’s what local coverage is all about. That’s what sets The Lansing Journal apart from other news sources.

Opportunity for everyone

Comprehensive sports coverage, student names, coach names, photos, scores, stats, and original writing — that’s what we have to offer our community. Will you partner with The Lansing Journal to make this happen?

Here are the numbers:

• We want to publish at least 3 sports articles each week. Some will be a simple round-up of scores and highlights; some will be detailed in-person coverage of a particular game or match.
• Each of those stories will cost an average of $95 to report, publish, and deliver.
• Covering all the sports will keep us busy for 10 months of the year, roughly 40 weeks.
• 3 articles x $95 x 40 weeks = $11,400 for a year of sports coverage in Lansing

If someone wanted to pay that full $11,400 as a one-time gift, I wouldn’t say no. But I would rather see more people give smaller amounts month by month. This is a community newspaper, and every community member has an opportunity to contribute whatever they can.

At a cost of $11,400/year, we’re talking about $950/month. In other words, we need just 95 people to give $10 per month.

$10 per month

Are there 95 TF South families who are willing to support this community newspaper so that we can keep the community informed about your TF South students?

Are there 95 TF South students who have $10 to invest in the community newspaper that is investing in them?

Are there 95 TF South alumni who remember the coaches and the crowds and the pride of seeing your name in the paper the next day — and who want today’s student athletes to have that same thrill?

Are there members of the broader community who would sign up to support this expanded sports coverage as well as all the local news we report, publish, and deliver every day?

Just $10/month — that’s less than the larger newspapers charge, and you get so much more from your hometown paper.