Star-Telegram, Dallas Morning News to share some sports coverage

The Star-Telegram and The Dallas Morning News announced today that they have agreed to share some of their sports coverage.

Beginning Feb. 1, the Morning News will be responsible for basic coverage of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars that both papers will use, while the Star-Telegram will provide coverage of the Texas Rangers.

Coverage of the Dallas Cowboys will not change.

Both papers expect to supplement the coverage of all three pro teams, and the work of their local columnists will continue to be exclusive.

In addition, the papers will cooperate on coverage of some college teams and spot coverage of some minor sports.

Star-Telegram Executive Editor Jim Witt and Morning News Editor Bob Mong said the move was being made in order to allow both papers to reduce expenses and eliminate duplicate stories while maintaining high-quality coverage of topics readers have come to expect.

"This works only because both papers have Sports sections recognized as being among the best in the country," Mong said. "Readers will continue to get top-notch coverage of the teams they follow."

Witt said the two papers will remain highly competitive with each other.

"We won’t be trading things like investigative stories or other exclusives that make each paper unique," he said. "But this agreement gives us the ability to be smarter about the coverage we offer."