There must still be some weekends when everyone is booked. I've had a couple of guys on my truck lately that had no business being on those shows, and they weren't exactly big shows. mg

I'm also finding a lot of folks that aren't even displaced station TDs, but pretty much anyone that thinks that the job is cool suddenly being the next TD. Seems crewers have been willing more than ever to throw someone into the fire with little to no experience. BTN has been a big example of this. Here they have a network with games on prime weekends, a switcher few professionals like, and a minimal budget to travel qualified ops in. Perhaps a video or graphics op that thought they'd try their luck at it. Suddenly crewers that would have once balked at the notion of throwing someone so green in, where they would have traveled an experienced operator, are now giving them their shot.

I would make sense to me that the sports freelance market MAY be going through changes as you are experencing. With so many local stations going the way of Automation, we're seeing a real glut of TD's who are being displaced from their News jobs. These people have to go somewhere - the most logical move is for them to take the next step up the ladder to Sports...look at how many posts there are on this site of people wanting "to break in the field", and I'd bet that for every one of them that actually posts here asking for guidence, there's maybe 10 others that just read the responses & then go out on their own. Thus, as more & more local station TD's are put out of work in each market, it makes sense (at least to me) that they'd make themselves available as local hires to crewers - as TD's, or as anything they can get. So crewers or production companies who feel that any TD can do what any other TD can do may be looking at this option as a way to improve their bottom line. As was pointed out a long time ago in one of the postings on this site - anyone who feels that News Automation is only a local station issue needs to look at the bigger picture of how it's going to eventually affect all of us.

From what I have heard, and seen, I think everything is slowing down a bit. Multiple big name ( non sports) channels I have heard of cutting back OT. Curt

I have noticed that crewers won't travel as frequently as they would have in the past. I have a couple of clients who In the past would not hesitate to travel me in for a game, but now wait to see if their is a local or someone closer who is available. Shows are getting smaller, but that doesn't affect T.D.'s, and some smaller productions are getting axed which would explain why a part time freelancer would not get called as much.