HOW NOT TO ADRESS A CRISIS IN THE NFL

Case studies are a useful tool in studying how companies react to different situations. They can teach you what companies did right, and sometimes how they really blew it. In a time of crisis, how do companies act? Do they address the issue head on like the famous Tylenol example, or do they place the blame on someone else? There is another way of dealing with a crisis. That is to ignore it completely.

If anyone is a sports fan, they have heard about the recent troubles of the New England Patriots, an NFL team that has dominated the league for the past decade. The Patriots have been accused of cheating by taping other teams, illegally, and spying on opponents play calling. In simple terms, the staff of the team cheated and got caught.

The commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, fined their coach, Bill Belichick, $500,000, the team $250,000, and took away draft picks for the 2008 draft.

So the coach was caught and punished, but how does this relate to the field of public relations. The answer lies in how Belichick handled the things during and after the “crisis”.

Instead of issuing any type of public apology, Belichick completely ignored the situation and had nothing to do with the press or public. He did not comment on the situation before or after this week’s game. Either he did not want to distract his team, or he just does not care and thinks of himself as above public responsibility.

ESPN has developed blogs about the subject and most of the contributors of the blog have used language I will not post, referring to the character of Bill Belichick.

So the sporting world has given us a bad example case study. Crisis situations can be a make or break decision for a company. Responsibility is usually the best way to soften the blow of a crisis. In this case, there was no use of responsibility at all. It almost seemed as though they were above responsibility.

Unfortunately, the current sporting world is under a wave of controversy. Whether if it is the NBA referee cheating scandal, the Michael Vick dog fighting conviction, or major league baseball steroid use, sports will be in the news on the front page instead of the sports section.

It will be interesting to see how these situations progress and how they are handled by the sports PR professionals that are handling them. I’m sure this subject will lead to future do’s and don’ts in PR strategy.