Yes, I agree with this entirely. Just comparing how quiet it is here on these boards with practices having started, and how it is on my home boards, where each day's practice generates one thread specifically initiated as a collecting spot for news and video clips, a thread that runs hundreds of posts long. And that in turn generates handfuls of side threads discussing specific players, or coaches, or observations. Then the next day, another practice, another thread with hundreds of posts that in turn generates another dozen threads on specific ideas. And the next day, the same again. And again. And again.
So now you have a really well-informed (or at least they think they're well-informed, hehe) core of fans going to school or work the next day with scads of water cooler material to spread. Can really blossom fast, maybe not accurate news but just excitement and energy about the team and the upcoming season.
As for controlling the information flow, if the coaching staff only allows access to reporters after they gain accreditation through some minor bureaucratic hurdle, then such access can be withdrawn. The amateurs who can't control themselves will quickly get sorted. The professionals, whose jobs depend on continued access, will abide by limitations put in place. They'll chafe at it, sure, all media love to believe in their journalistic independence, but (short of a scandal to report) they'll toe the line if they want to be back the next day. With this system, I think a coaching staff can maintain at least some degree of control over outside observers sharing secrets about players' health, the play book, and so on.
It's a surprisingly complex element of the football coaching staff's job.
