EISA Media · 2026–27 Season
EISA member schools were surveyed about media coverage for the 2026–27 season. All 14 schools have answered, several through more than one member of staff. This page shows what they said, question by question — the results are shared openly with the EISA community. Written answers are quoted in full and are not attributed: no school and no individual is named.
The survey in one card
responses called weekly event photography a must-have — and it is the only item on the list nobody marked “skip”.
“The biggest gap is Carnival excitement and atmosphere, and what gets made available to the public. … Otherwise whichever school has the best communications resources gets most of that attention.”An EISA program
All fourteen EISA schools have answered, several through more than one member of staff. Every question is below, exactly as answered.
Updated 10 September 2026. All 24 responses are counted, including the second and third from a school — different staff gave genuinely different answers, and averaging them away would hide that. It does mean schools that answered more than once carry more weight: eight schools sent multiple responses, accounting for eighteen of the twenty-four. Questions were optional. Written answers are quoted in full but are not attributed — no school and no individual is named — and the multiple-choice results are shown in aggregate. Responses are still arriving; these figures are a snapshot.
Photography is the clear leader — 16 of 24 call it a must-have. It is the only line nobody marked “skip”, and the only one a majority calls essential.
Exactly half want the full season; most of the rest would take a partial one.
Away coverage is the ask — nobody wanted home events only.
Engagement dominates. Sponsor and donor appeal has drawn a single pick, from one school of fourteen.
Twenty-three of twenty-four want the files and will finish them in-house.
SIDs lead, athletes’ families close behind — 21 of 24 and 20 of 24. Families are a distribution route in their own right, not just an audience.
Everyone who wrote something in answer to “how are you handling media today, and what is the biggest gap?” appears below, in full. Nothing is attributed — not the school, not the individual.
“We only capture photos or videos of carnivals we host, splitting alpine and Nordic, resulting in 1 of 12 races covered for each program. Additional EISA support for photos is vital to our representation of skiing.”
“We do not have a full-time media person that posts on our team account, so generating content is challenging — it’s not our forte.”
“We need help with social media posts. Our sports information director is in charge of everything, but our coaches and skiers are mostly responsible for content on websites and social media.”
“Probably social media is the biggest gap, as I don’t enjoy doing it. When I have an assistant coach they do it, or the athletes handle it.”
“We handle social media ourselves within the team. Our SID handles our website and press releases.”
“We use our SID to do most, and some of the student-athletes do the social media for the ski team.”
“Some support from sports info, and paying assistants to do social media.”
“Primarily handled by Athletic Communications, and by a designated team member on our social media.”
“SIDs and social media / marketing director.”
“I’m not. Probably posting stuff in general.”
“I do the social media content beyond carnival announcements and results.”
“I am not involved with any of the media, honestly.”
“We are generally responsible for posting to our own social accounts — last winter our SID posted weekend preview graphics only. Getting high quality photos and videos quickly, so we can post them while the race weekend is ongoing and fresh, is probably the most important thing for us. Fan/alumni engagement and recruiting are the two most important pieces of our Instagram feed.”
“The biggest gap is Carnival excitement and atmosphere, and what gets made available to the public. Coaches and athletes are at their most stressed then, understandably. This past year the Instagram account did a fantastic job providing updates, recaps and capturing the atmosphere of our weekends — that provides legitimacy and excitement for the league, and a reliable place to find news about each weekend. Otherwise whichever school has the best communications resources gets most of that attention.”
“Uncertainty around pricing for media when setting our budget — budget is due Jan 1 for the fiscal year starting July 1.”
“I only care about race photos, and even these don’t necessarily need to be from every single race. EISA social media stuff is fun — someone did a really nice job with the Instagram videos and student interviews last year — but this isn’t crucial. Write-ups are useless. In general the EISA media stuff isn’t very important to us; I’d rather have lower dues than a major media presence.”
The through-line: nearly every program covers its own home carnival and little else, and the work falls to coaches, athletes and stretched comms staff — several answered plainly that they are not involved with it at all. Two things recur among those who are — content is worth most while the weekend is still live, and without a league-wide service the schools with the best comms resources take most of the attention. One program would rather see lower dues than more media, and one needs a price before its January budget closes.
Six carnivals, each with a separate alpine and nordic venue — shot in parallel by two photographers: Steve Cloutier on alpine, Phillip Belena on nordic. Dartmouth is the exception — its nordic runs three weeks after its alpine.
| Carnival | Alpine · Steve | Nordic · Phillip |
|---|---|---|
Bates |
Sunday River Jan 14–15 · GS · SL |
Black Mtn of Maine Jan 15–16 · Sprint · 15k CL |
Saint Michael's |
Smuggler's Notch Jan 22–23 · GS · SL |
Sleepy Hollow Jan 21–22 · Relay · 15k FR |
Dartmouth |
Dartmouth Skiway Jan 29–30 · GS · SL |
Oak Hill Feb 12–13 · separate weekend |
UVM |
Stowe Mountain Resort Feb 5–6 · GS · SL |
Craftsbury Feb 5–6 · 7.5k FR · 20k CL |
Middlebury |
Middlebury Snowbowl Feb 18–20 · GS · SL |
Rikert Feb 19–20 · Sprint Relay · 20k CL |
Colby · EISA Champs |
Sugarloaf Feb 27–Mar 1 · GS · SL |
Quarry Road Feb 26–27 · Sprint · 7.5k FR |