When I left Utah last summer to become sports editor of the Minnesota Star Tribune, I understood what I was getting myself into … for the most part. I knew that Minnesotans have relied on the Strib for more than 150 years, and that its journalistic legacy is nearly unrivaled.
But after six months in Minnesota, I have an even greater appreciation for the central role sports has in the lives of Minnesotans and their communities. With that in mind, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the things you can expect from the Minnesota Star Tribune’s sports team in 2025 and beyond.
The accessibility and abundance of news today has redefined the way sports are covered. We know that audience habits and interests are rapidly changing. As a result, we are going to be more focused than ever on listening to you, our readers, responding to your feedback and experimenting with how we cover Minnesota teams, athletes, coaches and sports personalities.
You might already have noticed some of these changes.
We expanded our unrivaled coverage of high school sports, moving outside the metro to become All-Minnesota. We’re exploring — in real time — different ways of covering games. We are paying close attention to what the data tells us about audience interest for certain kinds of stories and adapting our coverage to meet those expectations. Expect even more of the same in 2025.
Boxscores tell the outcome but not the journey; it’s the role of sports journalism to go beyond the field and the locker room to find compelling personal stories. By doing so, we better honor the spirit of sports, telling the entire story and building a sense of community in the process. This new change will provide that.
You don’t need me to tell you that a sports fan can choose from dozens or more sources for real-time “game” stories that include video and commentary. But it’s no longer about what just happened, but much more about the how and why it happened. They want Strib reporters and photographers to help them understand the journey, not just the outcome, and to find and share the most compelling stories across the Minnesota sports spectrum, from preps to pros.