Sports PR Crises That Provide Lessons for All
By Arthur Solomon for PRNEWS
Books about mishandling PR crises often include sagas about Boeing, Wells Fargo, Volkswagen, the tobacco industry and BP.
An accompanying chapter should include how sports mishandles PR crises.
The National Football League (concussion denial, players and owners involved in abusive behavior with little punishment) should get the longest segment. It has had enough crises to enlarge the incomes of multitudes of crisis specialists.
But there are other sports entities that deserve mention: Major League Baseball (steroids and the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandals); the National Basketball Association (the freedom for Hong Kong brouhaha); the International Olympic Committee (too many disgraces to name); Penn State (sexual abuse); and USA Gymnastics (sexual abuse). These prominent organizations deserve a place in The Sports Hall of Shame.
All of the above scandals were made worse, and received ongoing negative media coverage, because of lame, often untruthful initial responses when facts became public. Never hide a problem or hope it’ll go away. Try to solve it before it mushrooms into a PR crisis.
When speaking to media, always tell the truth. It’ll come out anyway.
Here’s how corporate, brand and sports marketing outfits, and nearly everyone else, should act during a scandal: For more, click here.