Why Does Prep Girls Hoops Have a Paywall?

We field questions every day about our paywall – why we require a paid subscription to read our content. We’re only writing about high school basketball. How can we expect someone to pay to read it? We’ve spent, and continue to spend, valuable time examining our model, trying to determine the best way to best serve the high school basketball community with a high quality media outlet. Through that examination, we’ve been able to come to a few conclusions.

A few truths…

There’s a void in the comprehensive coverage of high school basketball.

Everyone covers the top 1% of prospects – the ones being recruited by high major schools. While those players drive the most clicks, they are not representative of the huge majority of high school players in America. We’re talking about the rest of the players, fighting for maximum visibility, looking to find their fit in college at any level. We hear time and time again from prospects that they’re looking to get their name out there, and as frequently from non-division I college coaches that they’re looking to get more names on their recruiting lists. Newspapers will cover the highest profile prospects occasionally throughout the winter and at state tournaments, but before Prep Girls Hoops, a comprehensive resource for high school basketball news and information just didn’t exist. And with newspapers in decline and prep coverage oftentimes on the chopping block, we’re here to fill a void.

Great coverage comes at a price.

The long, slow decline of newspaper circulation due to loss of ad revenue has been well documented, and the elimination of journalists from the staffs of established outlets has put a premium on top talent. There are less journalism jobs to go around and the best writers are more highly sought. Thorough, well-written coverage comes from great contributors, and great contributors require compensation.

Prep Girls Hoops is not the first-ever outlet attempting to provide this depth and quality of coverage on high school basketball. Recruiting services have existed as a resource for college coaches for years, but with a sticker price that can be 10 times that of Prep Girls Hoops, with less depth and no content. Because of our consistency, reliability and depth, Prep Girls Hoops has become the most trusted resource for college basketball coaches. We cover more players and publish more basketball related content than any outlet in the country.

Your experience on our website matters

Our website is here to serve you. We do everything in our power to provide you a valuable, polished experience – whether it is your first time on the site or your 100th time. In addition to crafting high-quality content, we’ve removed all outside distractions. We are 100% AD-FREE, meaning, no pop-ups, no outside advertisements, just high-quality content to provide the most comprehensive exposure to players at all levels.

Our content is specifically designed for the players, parents, and coaches who aim to be the most informed.

Our model is not about appealing to anyone with a modicum of interest in high school basketball. We exist for the parents who are invested in their children’s high school careers, the coaches looking to gain an edge in their recruiting and the flat out junkies looking to get their high school hoops fix. We’re not trying to maximize traffic to our site by any means possible. We’re trying to add value and grow the game among the communities in which we’re active. When you’re relying on traffic, quality is sacrificed.

Quality is of the utmost importance to us – something worth paying for.