How Does Public Relations Maintain the Established Relationships of Athletes and Teams in Crisis Situations?

Sarah K. SmithCOMM 495 Senior SeminarProfessor George PadgettFall 2009

Why Sports PR?• Sports are a part of culture

• Relationships between players, the media, and the public are multifaceted and require the practice of public relations to maintain them

• Recently, numerous incidents of inappropriate and sometimes criminal behavior by major sporting teams and professional athletes. These transgressions create challenges for public relations practioners, the public, and sponsors.

My Research Study• Qualitative critical evaluation and analysis of public relations

activities and techniques in relation to sport organizations and players that have committed transgressions

• Examines the repercussions of transgressions committed by sporting organizations and individual athletes, and the affects on the relationships between the fans, the organization, and sponsors

• Identifies the critical relationship management tactics and public relation theories practioners should consider to effectively handling such crises.

Hypotheses•H 1: Public relations is necessary to maintain

relationships between athletes and fans in crisis situations.  

•H 2: Public relations is necessary to maintain relationships between athletes and organizations in crisis situations.

•H 3: Public relations is necessary to maintain relationships between athletes and sponsors in crisis situations.

Just so you know…•Transgression = “players’ negative on- or-off field

behaviors that are a violation of the implicit or explicit rules guiding relationship performance and evaluation, and becomes a form of crisis for both team and sponsor” (Wilson et al, 2008).

•Crisis situation = something that could disrupt organizational operations and damage a reputation.

Previous studies note…• The two-way symmetrical model of public relations facilitates better long-

term relationship with publics as it balances the interests of both parties (Grunig and Hunt, 1984)

• Athlete image management is an important part of sport public relations, as athletes lend their images to a variety of products (Brazeal, 2008)

• Celebrity endorsers are more effective than non-celebrity endorsers in creating desirable marketing outcomes such as positive attitudes toward advertising, brand awareness, intentions to purchase, and actual sales (Drane et al., 2004)

• Negative publicity regarding a celebrity endorser can have a harmful impact on the perceptions of a company. (Drane et al., 2004)

Relationships of Athletes to Fans

•Fans support their favorite teams by paying for tickets and souvenirs-win or lose.

•Terrell Owens provides an example for public relations professionals on how NOT to respond to negative media, when attempting to repair a damaged reputation

•Owens aversion to accepting responsibility made him appear less sincere and diminished the apology’s impact. His failure to promise corrective action suggests that he did not think correction was necessary

T.O

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41rdU-3fiMA

Relationships of Athletes to Organizations• Duke lacrosse scandal presents a good example for public relations

professionals on how to restore the reputation of an organization after a crisis involving athletes

• Accepting responsibility and taking corrective action • Fostered an understanding between organizations and framed the message to

positively influence public perception. • Identified key stakeholder groups and was able to maintain its relationships

with each public throughout the crisis. • Reduced the offensiveness of the act by reinforcing the good traits of the

university • Corrective action by communicating the university was doing whatever it

could to prevent a reoccurrence of this type of incident.• Deliberate action by canceling the lacrosse team’s season and only allowing

its program to resume under stricter administrative oversight and new standards of behavior drafted for the players

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdU2LfoBL0Q&feature=PlayList&p=4C5B811F50E2E9A8&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=17

• up to 4 min

Relationships of Athletes to Sponsors•Today, the sports pages read more like a police blotter

with professional athletes being convicted of drug use, assault, driving offenses, gambling, and violence.

• Companies that choose to use an athlete to endorse their products assume a huge risk

•20% of all ads feature a celebrity, approximately 60% of celebrity endorsed advertisements feature an athlete

•Corporations spend more than $12 billion on multi-year athlete endorsements, more than $1.6 billion by Nike alone

Michael Vick• Approximately $7 million a year from sponsorship deals

prior to conviction of dogfighting charges• Nike suspended its contract with Vick, Reebok stopped

selling Vick jerseys, trading card companies Donruss and Upper Deck removed Vick’s card from the rest of their 2007 card pack releases, and the NFL pulled all of Vick’s jerseys, autographed items, and other memorabilia from its NFL Shop site

• Currently embarking on an ambitious image-rehabilitation campaign-recording public-service announcements for the Humane Society of the U.S and “The Michael Vick Project”, a cable show that follows Vick on his journey to redeem himself, will air on BET in 2010

Michael Vick’s Statement• Vick’s First Statement of Apology• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzyti

vQsPGI&feature=related• Vick’s Eagle Press Conference• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnnO

tP_9DNk&feature=related

Michael Phelps•$50 million a year in endorsements prior to published

photo of him smoking marijuana•USA Swimming banned him from competition for

three months and Kellogg announced that it would not renew its deal

•Major sponsors such as Hilton, Visa, Omega, Speedo, and Subway stood by him

•Recently announced his first endorsement since the incident with a multiyear partnership with H20 Audio

Michael Phelps’ Statement• http://www.youtube.com/w

atch?v=2tnmuqrdGaU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2xm8nRpMkE

Conclusion• Results support all 3 hypotheses

▫PR is necessary to maintain relationships between athletes and fans, athletes and organizations, and athletes and sponsors

• Strategy involves building and maintaining relationships with all publics using the two-way symmetrical model of communication.

• Develop good relationships with media outlets, initiating media and community relations efforts in an integrated, proactive way, focusing on both short and long term goals.

When Facing a Crisis:•Use the mortification strategy of offering apologies

and accepting responsibility for what happened

• Include what corrective action is being taken to avoid another crisis

•Ethical approach to apologia should acknowledge wrongdoing, accept responsibility, express regret, identify with any victims involved, ask for forgiveness, answer any questions or concerns, and offer corrective actions and compensation.

Also…•Be involved in all phases of developing

and maintaining these relationships

•Establish open and ongoing channels for communication with all publics involved

•Building trust with stakeholders will allow for athletes and organizations to recover from transgressions because they will acknowledge that appropriate action will be taken if one were to occur.

Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research • This was a qualitative, exploratory study

• Conduct a quantitative study on PR in sports

• Consider a narrower focus on PR efforts and effectiveness based on public perceptions

• Social media use should be studied more in depth to examine whether or not using social media benefits athletes