Now, don't get me wrong, I love professional sports. I think professional athletes deserve a lot of respect for what they do, and the VAST MAJORITY of professional athletes are classy individuals who are just doing their jobs. However, the actions of a small minority are starting to reflect negatively on the whole industry.
For me these incidents pose a very interesting dilemma: What is a franchise to do? Do they cut these athletes, who are doing their job on the field but creating bad press off? Or, do they just weigh their loses and keep a press liability on the field.
I would imagine in almost any other industry, that if employees habitually behaved in such a manor that garnered constant bad publicity for the company they would be released almost immediately. However, in an industry that is based franchises being successful, it really is quite a dilemma, especially because some of the time, it is the team superstars that are acting so inappropriately.
Yes, to a professional sports franchise winning is important. Winning teams have fans. Winning teams make money. However, fans can also be turned off by inappropriate behavior by their favorite professional athletes. Look at the whole Brett Favre situation. Many of Brett's most loyal fans were put off by this summer's retirement indecision.
I don't know what I would do in situation. I guess it's a good thing I don't own a professional sports franchise.
3 comments:
I think that a very select few athletes think they have this entitlement to everything. They feel as though they are untouchable but their antics get them into more trouble. I mean look at the Dallas Cowboys, they have Adam Jones, a reinstated player to the NFL. He has created a nightmare of a problem for the Cowboys and is now paying for it. I think there should be tougher punishment for those athletes that violate rules especially if they are in the public places and outside of practice or team functions.
They are not being responsible role models for the hundreds of kids that look up to them. When they see this behavior, they may feel it is ok to do.
I went on a little bit of a rant but I think if people don't take responsibility for their actions, then who will?
Great Piece, the issues really comes down to the economics of the situation, it seems low to say it but athletes are a investment and you have to decide when you should get rid of that investment and when you should see if it will come back. The NFL has personal 1 on 1 interviews with players to see if there character traits are ones that will stack up in the spotlight which seems legitimate considering the investment that these franchises make. The other main issue is that pro sports is the only industry were you get paid on potential the fact that you can or should perform up to a certain level, because of that it can be hard to say when enough is enough. You never do truly know ex. Josh Hamilton.
At least sports publicists never have a boring day!
Oh, I hear you on this subject! During the Olympic coverage this summer, where every day was a new Michael Phelps victory swim coverage, I couldn't help but be reminded that he was in trouble just a few years ago. How easily his astonishing success was able to overshadow his DUI arrest in 2004! http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/08/national/main654380.shtml
For some reason, celebs are fascinating, and their bad PR can be turned into good PR for the companies and people behind them. Michael became a success story..and his DUI has faded away with that.
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