The Democrat and Chronicle sports department has a long history of covering such a varied mix of sports. In terms of Rochester NY local news, they have a legacy with both local professional teams and Rochester college athletics. As the Rochester NY population has grown, so has their coverage and depth.
Historically, the newspaper has evolved since its creation in 1833 and become the areas only daily newspaper. While it still features industry fare such as the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle obits and the tv listings rochester ny it has covered the sports across the region and the topical national stories. One of the benefits of having a small town feel mixed in with the Democrat and Chronicle sports is that they can devote time to covering athletes just arriving for University of Rochester admissions or high school standouts. Through early growth and mergers, the paper officially became the Democrat and Chronicle in 1870.
Democrat and Chronicle sports have generally always covered school sports and related stories. That history includes such teams as the Rochester Royals that eventually became the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association. Fortunately for the Democrat and Chronicle sports department they have generally had winning teams and clubs over the long term. For cities in the U.S. that have seven or more pro teams, Rochester is the only one to claim a cumulative winning record for the regular season. This little bit of trivia cannot be ignored when you look at the media and articles generated for teams such as the Buffalo Bills in Democrat and Chronicle sports articles.
In addition to the big three of football, baseball and basketball, Rochester also fields professional teams in hockey, soccer, lacrosse. While some of these are considered minor league teams they can drive big league attendance in the area. As such, the Democrat and Chronicle sports writers have their work cut out for them in terms of interest and audience.