All work © StarTribune.

Quarterback Brett Favre celebrated after throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to Percy Harvin at TCF Bank Stadium.

Quarterback Brett Favre threw a pass under pressure from Lions linebacker Ashlee Palmer.

Safety Donte Whitner intercepted a pass intended for Sidney Rice. Jackson threw three INTs in the game.

Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick fumbled a snap on the Vikings' one-yard line. Linebacker Ben Leber recovered the ball.

Brett Favre ran onto the field to play the Green Bay Packers at the Metrodome.

Albert Young tackled by safety David Bruton.

Quarterbacks Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers after the Green Bay Packers' 31-3 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

Broncos wide receiver Alric Arnett caught a 14- yard touchdown pass over cornerback Marcus Sherels.

Adrian Peterson pulled a Miami linebacker in the second quarter. Peterson ran for one TD and 145 yards.

Running back Adrian Peterson handed the ball to a lucky fan after a touchdown run.

Quarterback Brett Favre recovered a high snap in the final game of his 20-year career.

Brett Favre grimaced after taking a hard hit from Arthur Moats and left the game with a shoulder injury.

Randy Moss returned to the Metrodome for his first home game with the Vikings since leaving the team in 2004.

Brad Childress unsuccessfully challenged a Green Bay touchdown. Vikings owner Zygi Wilf fired Childress shortly after the game.

Vikings ownership fired Brad Childress and named Leslie Frazier interim head coach.

The Metrodome's roof collapsed after a winter storm swept through the Twin Cities.

Brett Favre celebrated after throwing the final touchdown pass of his 20-year career.

The Vikings introduced John Randle as one of the team's 50 greatest players during halftime at TCF Bank Stadium.

Wide receiver Johnny Knox caught a 67-yard touchdown pass over Madieu Williams.

Wide receiver Devin Aromashodu celebrated the Chicago Bears' 40-14 victory over Minnesota Vikings 40-14.

Brett Favre walked off the field after playing the final game of his 20-year career.

I don’t think newspapers can compete with the well-oiled TV machines at their own game. Instead, they can win the stories of the day by using their additional resources and context. The Knight Foundation’s Matt Thompson recently wrote five concrete steps toward improving the news. In the post, item number one said: “Don’t ‘win the morning.’ Win the story.” I think that mentality is the future of online video.

On Saturday, I covered the University of Minnesota’s first game in their new football stadium. The home opener took place around 6:00 PM with roughly six TV stations (including the Big Ten network), a couple online outlets and myself covering the video elements of the story. Each TV station had at least two videographers and one reporter covering the game and it finished around 9:00. During the post-game interviews, the TV crews stayed for the head coach’s press conference and then slowly started leaving to make deadline. The number of cameras in the room dropped from seven cameras to two (the guy live steaming and me).

The next day, I visited each station’s Web site to watch their coverage of the event. Here’s the best TV story that I could find online:

Did you notice how all the footage was shot before the game ever started? All of the TV stations had access to the field and could record the game, but they only had time to use a few of the big plays later in sports. So, what happened to all of that great footage that wasn’t ready for deadline? It sits on a shelf as part of history that most people will never see. To win this story, online news organizations need to consistently beat this style of story.

WCCO-TV did a nice job pulling together this nat sound story with game footage later in the broadcast. Also, here’s the story that StarTribune.com ran the next day:

Instead of running stories when they are suppose to run – newspapers can run stories when they’re ready. It becomes a whole new story when you hear from coaches and players at the 10:00 press conference, and see how the team actually did in their home opener. This online video environment provides an excellent opportunity to engage users in high-quality storytelling if organizations are willing to invest in the resources to make these stories possible.

UPDATE: Kare11 recently aired this story as part of their Extra segment a couple days after the stadium launch. Awesome to see a local TV station following up with a big story.