Sports PR 101 - A Public Relations Sports Blog

To no fault of their own, the New York Mets have suffered some negative publicity as a result of issues related to the country’s economic downturn.

The naming-rights of the Mets news stadium, Citi Field, belong to a financial institution that has received billions of dollars in bailout money. Many fans (and many more taxpayers) are understandably furious at the idea that the bailed out bank continues to honor its naming-rights and sponsorship deal with the Mets for $400 million paid-out over 20 years.

The Mets have also taken some knocks because of their most famous season ticket holder, now former season ticket holder – Bernie Madoff.

Before his multi billion dollar Ponzi scheme crumbled, Madoff had been a longtime Mets season ticket holder and owned a pair of Delta Club Platinum season tickets behind home plate (bought for $80,000) at the new Citi Field. The tickets, of course, were seized and are being sold-off on auction Web sites like ebay and Stub Hub with the money going into a fund for Madoff’s victims.

Although these two situations have not, to this point, devastated the Mets image or brand it has put the organization in an uncomfortable and awkward spot. When you consider the tremendous media attention the Mets have recently received for their relationships with Citigroup and Bernie Madoff, and then coupled with the opening of their $850 million stadium that’s funded by the sale of New York City municipal bonds (to be repaid by the Mets with interest), the Mets could seem adverse to their fans and community’s economic hardships and suffer some PR damage as a result.

Even though the Mets were just a victim of circumstance (to borrow a line from Curly of The Three Stooges) and did nothing to warrant this negative media and PR attention, they still need to act and spin the bad publicity. To this point, as far as I can tell, the team has remained quiet on these issues and has done nothing.

So when I learned about the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan auctioning off Madoff’s tickets I thought to myself, “Man, the Mets really missed a great PR opportunity”.

Wouldn’t it of been awesome if the Mets retuned the $80,000 dollars, received from Madoff for his Citi Field tickets, to the courts and attorneys handling the liquidation of the disgraced financier’s assets?

Then, after reacquiring the premium sets behind home plate, the Mets could have donated the two tickets for each game to a different charity or children’s organization. Think about it: Each of the Mets 81 home games this season could have had a different set of underprivileged kids, hurt by the economic collapse, sitting in the best seats in the house.

This would have reflected the Mets as sympathetic to its fans financial hardships and could have helped the organization distance itself from the other entanglements causing negative PR.

Of course this would have cost the Mets $80,000 but they would have received ten times that in positive publicity.

I’m not suggesting that the Mets and their players are not already involved in numerous charities and terrific causes – because they are.

But whenever a client or organization suffers negative publicity, no matter how slight, you have to seriously consider if a PR plan needs to be devised and implemented.

Sometimes it does and sometimes it’s better to leave it alone.

The Mets chose to leave it alone. I think it’s time to act.

Nobody would ever accuse me of being an expert in emerging technologies. But anyone working in public relations or marketing has to keep a steady eye on the technology and business news and stay aware of new tools that could help gain publicity for a client or assist in building a brand. Especially tools that are free and extremely easy to use.

So when something like Twitter comes around a PR or marketing executive has to be able to recognize the potential of such an unusual instrument.

Although created in 2006, Twitter didn’t break into the mainstream until last spring. And when I learned what it was I didn’t initially understand or even see the potential of Twitter as a tool for generating PR. In fact, I think I might have even dismissed it as something juvenile and a just a new way for 15-year olds to send moronic messages to each other.

I obviously missed on that one, big time. As I write this today Twitter is the new text message or e-blast. When used properly, Twitter can serve as a vehicle to reach your audience and hit important demographics – the key words here are “used properly”.

The full power of Twitter has yet to be determined. I don’t think its potential as a PR or marketing tool is even close to being reached. But recent news in the sports world has really opened my eyes and made me salivate at the thought of what Twitter could do for sports PR.

You’re probably already familiar with the stories about the Milwaukee Bucks’ Charlie Villanueva getting in trouble by his coach for “tweeting” during halftime. Shaquille O’Neal of the Phoenix Suns also grabbed headlines with his promise to post a Twitter message during halftime of a game, challenging authority so he could give his fans and his Twitter followers some excitement.

My reaction to those stories was amusement and some interest in its PR significance. But aside for some minor pub for the individual athletes, I didn’t make much of it.

But then I read about the Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce and his Twitter news. Pierce posted a tweet prior to a home game announcing he’ll personally give away tickets to the first five fans that showed up at the Garden’s players entrance wearing his No. 34 jersey or shirt and relaying the password “Truth” (Pierce’s nickname).

Wow! I’m not sure if that was a spur of the moment idea by Pierce or the Celtics marketing department carefully planning and executing the promotion. Either way, I thought it was brilliant. What a way to not only please your fans but also almost force them to keep up with your tweets in anticipation of the next great giveaway or special event.

The same way PR and marketing departments gather e-mail addresses to blast updates to fans about new promotions, great ticket deals and player news, adding followers to your team or client’s Twitter account is a much faster and more affective way to reach your target audience.

If you’re not confident that Twitter has enough overall users to make it a must in your PR and marketing efforts, consider that the site recently received a third-round of funding for $35 million and was ranked in March by Nielsen.com as the fastest growing social media Web site and is alreadu the third most popular (behind Facebook and MySpace).

Minor league sports organizations are constantly searching for new and creative ways to market its teams to reach fans with messages. Major league franchises, of course, have also historically marketed its teams but in a more sophisticated and less aggressive way than the minors (you’ll never see a dizzy bat spin race between innings at Yankee Stadium).

But times are rapidly changing in the world of sports thanks to our free falling economy. The big boys can no longer sit back and simply live-off the name and status of their big-league franchises. Just as the minor leagues scratch and claw to draw fans, major league teams now have to be much more proactive in its PR and marketing but not at the risk of being corny or undignified – I think Twitter satisfies both stipulations.

Two other “Twitter-in-Sports” examples to keep an eye on, specifically over the next few months, is the “NBA on TNT” and the recently debuted Women’s Professional Soccer League.

TNT will use Twitter to promote its NBA playoff coverage beginning in mid April. The cable station’s annual “40 Games in 40 Nights” campaign will feature two of TNT’s on-air hosts and analysts on Twitter. Accounts will be set up for Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith so the pair can provide in-game updates. The tweets will also be shown on the “NBA on TNT” Facebook page and NBA.com

Women’s Professional Soccer officials allowed select players to tweet during the league’s inaugural game in late March. The league’s Web site and other PR and marketing efforts also encourage fans to follow WPS players on Twitter – a great way to introduce WPS and its players to the sports and soccer community as well as create new fans.

A potential serious negative of “Twitter-in-Sports” is the constant risk of an inappropriate or embarrassing tweet. I believe the more ways a team or client can communicate a message to the world the better. But whenever you implement a new communications tool into your PR or marketing efforts you’re also creating a new way to possibly hurt yourself.

It’s very dangerous for an organization to authorize or allow just any player or staff member to represent its team in a media capacity. So always be extremely careful when selecting someone to represent you or a client. Always provide media training for absolutely anyone who communicates to the outside world, even if it’s just Twitter.

As a sports PR professional, I believe that one of the best ways to learn and improve my craft is to monitor closely interviews with athletes and coaches. Most interviews, of course, are very generic with softball questions and answers that would force a yawn from even the most intense fan (Reporter: How did you feel out there today? Athlete: I felt good. I just wanted to play well for my teammates…etc.).

But from time to time important questions, even tricky ones, are thrown at players and coaches – sometimes with the sole purpose of causing controversy (see Jim Calhoun and his thoughts about his salary). Especially in today’s rapidly expanding media world, reporters are constantly seeking ways to standout from their colleagues with controversial questions.

Most players and coaches are media trained and should know how to eloquently avoid answering these loaded inquires. So I’m always a little surprised when the bigger-named sports star comments on matters that he or she should stay far away from.

A recent example is North Carolina Head Men’s Basketball Coach Roy Williams. Throughout his Hall of Fame coaching career, Coach Williams has done a solid job dealing with the media (aside from his understandably emotional outburst with CBS’s Bonnie Bernstein following his 2003 National Championship Game defeat).

But I had to cringe the other morning when I watched a replay of one of Coach Williams’s pregame press conferences prior to Monday’s Championship Game.

With the title game in Detroit this year, a number of stories have logically centered on the city’s severe economic and unemployment struggles. So naturally head coaches from both teams in the Finals were asked about this issue.

Although everybody has a right to their opinion, I think this is an extremely dangerous area for professional athletes and coaches to address. In sports PR, you can never forget that sports is really just a distraction to real life. Sports is entertainment that, at the end of the day, really means nothing in the entire scope of things.

So when it comes to families losing their jobs and homes, I would rather not listen to a man earning roughly $2.6 million-a-year by coaching basketball comment about jobs and the economy (let alone make glib or insensitive remarks). One has to know where his or her place is and then address questions accordingly.

The following was Coach Williams’s remarks when asked about the economic impact of the Final Four in Detroit. “…I do realize they have a cause (Michigan State). Well, we also have a cause. We want to win a National Championship, period the end. And if you would tell me that if Michigan State wins it’s going to satisfy the nation’s economy I’d say, hell, let’s stay poor for a little while longer.”

Now I don’t really believe Coach Williams means that. He’s trying to keep his players focused and doesn’t want any distractions to linger in their minds. But you have to be smarter than that. Although there was virtually no criticism or response from anyone that I could find, I came away thinking that that was an extremely inappropriate statement and could of caused serious problems for the University and the NCAA.

Players and coaches have to be media trained and understand that topics such as economics and politics are hot-buttoned issues that they should stay far away from. Coach Williams, as great of a basketball coach that he is, was not qualified to answer that question and should have known that.

We all know that sometimes no matter how much media training and instructions you supply a client, they’ll pick times to ignore your hard work and say whatever they feel like. So I’m not necessarily blaming UNC’s sports information department for this gaffe.

But the University’s associate athletic director of communications or sports information director should definitely mention the matter to Coach Williams and make sure he understands his public relations mistake.

It appears no damage was done from the remark but it could have easily blown up and really embarrassed the University and NCAA.

It’s no secret any more that the pro sports industry’s overwhelming top priority is fast money, no matter how much it alienates the fans.

Whether it’s the outrageous ticket and concession prices or the fact that kids and many adults miss most playoff action because the games begin after 8:30 pm and end way after 11:00 pm.

These types of business practices and principles in sports have been going for some time and, sadly, we’ve all pretty much excepted it and shrugged it off as “oh well, what can you do?”

But as pro sports continues to blindly chase the almighty buck, knocking over any fan in its way, its ironically costing itself more in the long run because its continuing to find ways to ignore the kids who would otherwise grow up worshipping and idolizing its teams and players.

The latest example of this is the New York Mets and their new policy regarding tickets and access for little leaguers.

As a former minor league front office executive, I’ve seen first-hand how powerful it is to allow little leaguers and other young kids (and their parents) cheap and easy ballpark admission along with the invitation to parade around the field before the game.

Think about how exciting it must be for a six or seven-year old to go to a baseball stadium, watch batting and infield practice up close and then, as the stands fill up with fans, get introduced by the public address announcer and march around the entire field with your buddies waving to your parents and all the people? And that’s just for a 5,000 seat ballpark!

It might seem like that’s a sweet gesture by the team and that owner is a swell guy, but what that organization is really doing is making those kids become fans and hooking them for life.

With the opening of their new $800 million stadium, the New York Mets have to find ways to recoup the tons of the additional money it laid out for Citi Field – I understand and appreciate that. But one of the new Mets policies to add or save money is to no longer offer discounted tickets or parades for little leaguers and youth groups.

Local little league, youth and community leaders and coaches who’ve recently inquired about this once sensational opportunity have been told by Mets officials that they’ll have to buy regular group tickets and can no longer bring kids on the field.

I think this sets a really bad precedent for the Mets and sends a horrible message. Forget about how nice and sweet it would be to allow kids this opportunity, the Mets are denying themselves a fantastic chance to grab hundreds, maybe thousands, of life-long fans.

Can you imagine what a kid would feel inside their little heart if he or she walk onto the ball field of a giant stadium and found themselves standing near a David Wright or Jose Reyes? That kid would go berserk! I know because as a kid I got to experience that very same feeling.

The Yankees, by the way, are also running over fans as a result of their new stadium. The way the original Yankee Stadium (including the post renovated version) was designed, fans had the opportunity to arrive early and stand near the players entrance to watch their heroes walk by and possibly get an autograph and say hello. Some of my greatest memories as a kid was yelling to Dave Winfield and Willie Randolph outside Yankee Stadium to come over and sign my baseball (which they both did, Phil Niekro didn’t but I’ve gotten over it after years of therapy).

The new $1 billion Yankee Stadium was built with its team parking lot inside the stadium, allowing players to go directly from their vehicles to the clubhouse without the annoying hassle of ticket-buying and money spending fans telling them how great and wonderful they are.

I hope it’s worth it.

I was really disappointed to learn recently that longtime New York City sportscaster Len Berman is retiring from his day-to-day sportscasts in a few weeks, especially because he was pushed-out for budgetary reasons.

Like most markets, New York is losing a lot of terrific on-air and print talent as a result of the changing media industry. Maybe one can look at the media industry as evolving, as advancements in technology have given us numerous new avenues to supply our thirst for news and sports with much faster and convenient options. But when a legend like Len Berman leaves before his time because he’s deemed obsolete, there’s really something wrong.

Maybe I’m biased because I have a sentimental attachment to Mr. Berman. Growing up in Westchester, NY, his daily sportscasts and, of course, his always fabulous “Spanning the World” segments were apart of my foundation as not only a sports fans but a fan of the entire sports industry (there’s a difference between the two).

What made Mr. Berman so great was that he “got it”. His approach to reporting and creating stories placed sports in our lives where it should be: Not life and death, but fun and emotional – and creative!

Mr. Berman was interviewed today on WFAN’s “Boomer and Carton in the Morning” and I really enjoyed listening to him discussing his 40-year career, from his start at Syracuse University to his final days at WNBC in New York (not to mention his beef with Mike Lupica and Don Imus).

He will remain active in some areas of sports media including his Web site, which I encourage everyone to checkout and also signup for his daily “Len’s Top 5”: http://www.lenbermansports.com/

I’ll admit that, for the most part, I too have slowly slipped away from local TV sports and rely on the Internet and cable TV to keep me informed and updated. But listening to Mr. Berman this morning reminded me that those sports mediums will never be able to offer the uniqueness of Don Pardo closing out another “Spanning the World” segment with a “Tune in Next Time for ‘Spanning the World’…If there Is a Next Time. I’m Don Pardo.” Classic.

For those of us who work in sports, or at least follow the world of sports business, we know how much the sports industry has been hurt by the United States’ recent financial collapse – one might even say the sports industry has been paralyzed by it.

Of course sports is certainly not the only industry severely touched by the collapse. We all know most industries have been financially pounded to various degrees.

I think one industry that’s been wrecked and is similar to the business of sports is the travel industry. So I find it encouraging that the travel industry is not sitting back, feeling sorry for themselves and saying “Oh well, maybe I should find another line of work” (as many sports-business industry insiders have told me to do). The travel industry is fighting back!

There’s a story published in today’s NY Times business section (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/business/31response.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Susan%20Stellin&st=cse) about the travel industry and how restrictions of bail-out money to banks and other financial institutions are killing the once flourishing business. The financial industry has traditionally spent billions every year to send executives to lavish (and not so lavish) resorts around the country and world for meetings and reward trips. So with the financial industry freezing it’s spending on these unnecessary luxuries, the travel industry has suffered immensely.

The U.S. Travel Association is lobbying President Obama to not only relax some of the bail-out money restrictions but to better define and identify what is considered lavish for these execs. Sending executives to resorts and cushy vacation sites may or may not be an important part of the financial business, the TIA says. They ask to explore what, exactly, these business trips are for and whether or not they benefit their businesses.

I’m sure most financial executives would say these trips are important while regular working-class folks with serious struggles of their own would most likely say it certainly is not (as I would). But I do admire the TIA for recognizing a way to snatch back some or most of its losses and going after them.

The sports connection here is – the collapse of our financial industry is also devastating the world of sports business. Many stadium and arena luxury suites and premium seats remain empty and major sponsorship and marketing dollars, that are earmarked for sports-related events and naming rights, have been substantially cut.

I applaud the TIA and its efforts to fight for its business. Although I don’t necessarily propose that a sports industry group lobby the President and demand that financial industry big shots continue to spend on sports they way they have in the past. But I do draw some similarities between the sports industry and the travel industry. They’re fighting for its existence, who’s fighting for ours?