Lack of preseason WIAC Football Media Day hurts WIAC state-wide exposure

We are now at T-minus one-week and counting until the opening of 2011 preseason practice for Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football programs.

Training camps will open for the second year in a row minus the previously “annual” WIAC Preseason Media Day held at the Kohl Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

The preseason media day concept was put on the “back-burner” last year as the result of a number of financial cutbacks or tweaks due to the current economic climate.

I fully understand the situation however marketing the football programs to media around the state IS important and lack of preseason marketing of the WIAC only enhances Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay TV stations to opt not to “cover” WIAC football on a season-long basis.

The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is annually considered one of the top NCAA Division III football conferences in the country. The conference is home to the defending Division III National Champion and a football program that has reached the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in each of the past six seasons. UW-Whitewater has gone toe-to-toe with Mount Union each year, winning NCAA Division III Titles in 2007, 2009, and 2010.

I understand the budget concerns, but why not a “conference call” format for a WIAC football preseason media day? The more publicity this conference can get, the better it is for all WIAC schools and football programs.