Across the country the long, dull grind of summer is being broken by college football media days — gatherings of coaches, players and press that each conference will hold sometime in the next week.The Southeastern Conference’s media extravaganza began Wednesday, with 960 people registered as media members.But this summer’s proceedings will look much different for many schools, as the economic recession has forced Conference USA, the Sun Belt Conference and several lower-tier conferences to eliminate formal gatherings in favor of less costly methods like webcam chats or phone teleconferences.”It’s a sign of the times, not just financially but with regards to technology,” said John McElwain, Sun Belt Conference associate commissioner. “We looked into it months ago and wanted creative solutions to save money for the conference, its schools and the media … A lot of eyes will be on us.”But whether this new format becomes a national trend is yet to be determined. Charles Bloom, the SEC’s associate commissioner of media relations said it could be “a wait-and-see” situation.”There’s something to be said for having everyone in one place for three days to talk about the SEC,” he said. “Currently there is no discussion on changing the format … The preregistration numbers for this year’s event is the highest we have ever had.”The Sun Belt held its first-ever media day using webcams on July 20 and 21, with coaches from its nine schools conducting live streaming interviews.”This helps [coaches] because they don’t have to interrupt work to do this, they just get on their computer from their office,” McElwain said. “We’ve also gotten a lot of positive response from the media because newspapers have been hit so hard … So we’ll be saving ourselves as well as the media some money.”Despite the SEC’s success, it’s not just smaller conferences that could feel the crunch this season. The Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the six members of the BCS, cut its event from three days to two, and moved it from Tampa, Fla., to Greensboro, N.C., to make travel easier for all 12 schools.”It’s not something people are used to, but I think it’s something everyone can understand,” McElwain said. “Some people like to base their vacations around these trips, but we’re hoping to take it in a new direction.”Even Ohio State and Michigan, two of the nation’s most profitable athletic departments, are publishing their media guides online as opposed to printing thousands of books.”Big Ten athletic departments met earlier in the summer to talk about cost cutting — us and Michigan decided we might as well get the ball rolling on media guides,” said Dan Wallenberg, Ohio State assistant athletic director. “Between the two of us we’re looking to save around $300,000.”The move is one that not everyone is ready to make.Michael Bonnette, LSU football’s sports information director, said the Tigers’ upcoming media guide is too important to fundraising to get rid of.”Ohio State and Michigan both have more sports than we do — they have more books to make,” he said. “Media guides are important to the Tiger Athletic Foundation because they showcase to donors exactly where their donations are going.”This year’s LSU media guide is 208 pages and can be purchased for $25. Bonnette said the Athletic Department may stop sending guides to recruits in order to “cut down on a lot of the number of books made.”Bonnette also said SEC Media Days is “too big of an opportunity not to take advantage of,” in its current format.”You get to be seen on a national scale as well as interact with 500 or 600 media members,” he said. “But technology is changing a lot of things, so I won’t say it will never change … It’s just a shame some conferences can’t do it because it’s very beneficial.”—-Contact David Helman at [email protected]