Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but the whole concept of reporters in a locker room immediately after a game, as players were showering, was all based on meeting a quick deadline before newspapers went to print.
That logic is completely irrelevant in 2024, and has been for decades. There is no legitimate reason to be interviewing players at their lockers, especially when they are in a full sweat, pissed off after a tough loss. Any focus on the male-female aspect is a deflection of the real issue. As noted in the article:
where the players are is, ‘I definitely want to engage with the media. But I’d like to have the opportunity to be decent. I’d like to be dressed. I’d like to, you know, get my thoughts together and then conduct the interview.’ ”
It's not rocket science. Have teams' PR personnel insure that players are available in a timely manner. Set up a few smaller interview spaces outside the locker room, in addition to the larger room now used for post-game press conferences. In return the players need to agree to not use the new setup to avoid questions; access to the public is a part of how and why they are paid as they make. How that would be enforced, I don't know - make it part of their contract perhaps, with defined penalties from their paychecks for non-compliance.
To me the concept of multiple strangers sticking microphones and cameras into the face of a sweaty naked person to be broadcast on local television for public consumption has always been a bit weird.
