•••
The schools' athletic administrators came to their decisions after discussing the topic at a meeting of Big 10 Conference athletic directors. "This is something that has been talked about for several years in college athletics, particularly in the Big 10," says Wallenberg. "It allows us to take advantage of modern technology using our Web site and save significant dollars. This was something we felt we needed to do right away, so we took the lead on it."

The savings yielded by this change are hard to ignore. According to Wallenberg, Ohio State athletics should save around $175,000 in printing costs alone. The elimination of shipping costs could save an additional $25,000.

Although cutting costs is the impetus behind the switch, it's not the only advantage. For instance, working with an online media guide allows the athletic department to quickly and easily update information on each teams' progress throughout the season."When it's on paper, the media guide is out of date as soon as the first game is played," says Wallenberg. "Online media guides allow for game-by-game adjustments such as graphics and design changes without reprinting thousands of copies."

Though the change was finalized just two weeks ago, Wallenberg anticipates that the improvements in timeliness will be felt soon. "For example, once we get our soccer bios done, we won't have to wait for them to be printed," explained Wallenberg. "We can just go ahead and put them online right away."

In addition to speeding up up the production process, Ohio State hopes that online media guides will provide a more accessible resource for donors, season ticket holders, and school alumni. With society's dependence on the Internet for nearly every facet of daily life, moving the media guides online allows athletic departments to reach a broader audience.

But as simple as looking up the media guide on the internet seems, Wellenberg acknowledges that there will be a critical transition period for the readers of the traditional hard copy media guides. "There's going to be an education process for our constituencies on where they can find that information now," he says. "However, with the ease of information and access, I think it will be much more current and easier to access for recruits, alumni, and donors."

Despite the time it might take to adjust to the new system, Wellenberg doesn't believe the Buckeyes will be at a competitive disadvantage--as long as they announce news of the switch effectively. "We need to find a way to educate recruits, their parents, and donors about this new form of media," says Wallenberg. "Utilizing resources like e-mail and our school and athletic Web sites is crucial to making sure the people who need this information will have it in a form that they can use and access easily."

Jon Jaques is a senior at Cornell University, where he plays basketball for the Big Red. He has spent the last two seasons writing about his experiences for The Quad, a college sports blog at www.nytimes.com, and is an intern at Athletic Management.