PR in Sports

I’ve been posting a lot lately about Twitter and social media in general, but Twitter really has been dominating the sports news in recent weeks. This past weekend was more of the same as Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined by the NBA for a tweet, and Celtics forward Paul Pierce entered the Twitter fray (@paulpierce34). Pierce used one of his first few tweets to hand out tickets to Sunday’s Celtics game to the first five people to meet him at the players entrance to the arena and use the code word “truth.”

We’ve also discussed the infamous Charlie Villanueva halftime Tweet and other popular athletes on Twitter, mostly from the NBA. SportsPRBlog has an interesting post that includes a google document with a searchable list of nearly every athlete, league, conference and sports media outlet on Twitter.

One thing strikes me after looking at the Twitter google document and digesting all of the news previously mentioned. Why are NBA players and teams dominating Twitter compared to other sports and athletes, and what makes Twitter more attractive to the NBA?

There are numerous reasons, and one could be that Twitter really started becoming main stream a few months ago. Right around the time the NBA was heating up and the NFL was winding down. But, it’s more than just timing. The NBA places much more focus on marketing individual players, as opposed to the NFL, MLB and other sports, where marketing is more team based. Due to the NBA’s marketing strategy, the individual players also place more emphasis on their personal branding.

The NBA is about personalities, and that lends itself to social media, and specifically Twitter. Just last week we saw Shaq and LeBron having an intro competition. That’s right, they battled over which player had the most creative intro skit during pregame annoucement of the starting lineups, somthing you’d never see in football or baseball.

Also, NBA fans and media sit right on the court. NBA players can often be found interacting with courtside fans and media during games. It’s the only major sport with that type of access. It allows a greater comfort level for NBA players with the type of interaction that social media sites like Twitter promote.

Baseball’s opening Day is just a few days away, so I’ll be watching to see if there’s an increase in MLB players on Twitter in the coming weeks. But, I’d like to hear why you think NBA players and teams have a larger presence on Twitter?

Looks like PRinSports helped break the Charlie Villanueva Halftime Twitter story Sunday night, as Boston.com, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Deadspin.com and Ball Don’t Lie are just a few of the outlets that referenced the initial post. It also seems that not everyone was as excited about Charlie V’s Tweet.

The verdict came in Tuesday when Milwaukee Bucks Coach Scott Skiles told the AP that Villanueva’s in-game Tweets will be no more. Skiles told the team, and Villanueva, that nothing like that will ever happen again, although he stopped short of levying a fine.

After practice Villanueva tweeted the following, “Well guys, no more halftime tweets for me – I’ll leave it at that, won’t comment on it any further. But I still got love for ya. Stay tune.” Credit Villanueva for not only following up in the media, but explaining himself on Twitter. He obviously understands the importance of connecting with fans, and he’ll continue to find new and exciting ways to let fans in.

I understand where opponents of the in-game Tweet are coming from. For the most part I’m a purest when it comes to sports. But, this is really more about perception than reality. The perception is that Villanueva isn’t focused on the game. The perception is that Skiles doesn’t have the Bucks taking the matter at hand seriously.

But, Twitter isn’t go away. Athletes finding new and innovative ways to connect with their fans in a more personable way isn’t going away. The number of celebrities on Twitter and with Facebook Fan Pages is growing everyday. Charlie V’s halftime Tweet is the beginning, not the end, of more creative communication with fans. It started with athletes using blogs, but will continure to evolve as social media evolves.

The question is, what sport would be conducive to in-game Tweets? Would you have a problem with a baseball player sending tweets in the dugout in between innings? Maybe the pitcher after he’s been pulled? How about a golfer at the turn?

Let me know your thoughts, because this will happen again and it could become the norm.

The Twittering Charlie Villanueva

On Sunday afternoon the sports world may have changed forever, and in Milwaukee, WI, of all places. In their quest to secure the 8th playoff spot in the Eastern Conference the Milwaukee Bucks pulled off a huge win over the defending champion Boston Celtics. What’s so life altering about that you ask?

The changing moment actually came at halftime. It happened in the Bucks lockeroom with the game tied 41-41. Just after Bucks Coach Scott Skiles addressed the team, forward Charlie Villanueva commented, “In da locker room, snuck to post with my twitt. We’re playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up.” What made this different is that Villanueva didn’t say this to a teammate or to a ball boy coming around to pick up some towels. Charlie V (@CV31) made the comment at halftime on Twitter!

For those that don’t know, Twitter is an online service that allows users to send out 140 character messages called Tweets. These Tweets can range from what you’re doing at the moment, to sharing interesting news, and connecting with professionals in your field. Some of the fastest growing users of Twitter are athletes, sports teams, celebrities and politicians. A few popular athletes on Twitter are the Suns Shaquille O’Neal (@The_Real_Shaq), Jason Richardson (@jrich23) and Steve Nash (@The_Real_Nash), the Jets Kerry Rhodes (@kerryrhodes) and golfer Natalie Gulbis (@nataliegulbis).

Villanueva raised the stakes Sunday afternoon. Up until this point athletes have mainly used Twitter to connect with fans and become more personal. One of Shaq’s favorites is to Tweet his location and the next fan that approaches him will get a prize. But, I believe this was the first time that an athlete has Tweeted during an actual game.

As a PR and marketing person I love that Villanueva is not only using Twitter, but that he’s actually buying in. I don’t see a problem with his halftime Tweets, although I suggest, and maybe he has done this, that he notify his coach and the teams PR people. That way nobody is caught off-guard, especially with an ever-growing list of reporters on Twitter. Last week alone Twitter was mentioned on PTI and Around The Horn, so you never know when a social media comment can cause a controversy, as the Philadelphia Eagles learned last week.

It will be very interesting to see where this leads us though. Will Coach Skiles have a reaction? My guess is he isn’t aware of Twitter, so it will be especially interesting to see how he feels about a player taking time during halftime to send messages. It will also be interesting to see how the league feels about Twitter, they were very slow in reacting to how blogs have changed the media.

But, the real question is, how will Charlie V’s Tweet change the way celebrities interact with fans? We’ve already seen senators and congressman Tweeting during President Obama’s address a couple weeks ago. Are we going to see bands Tweeting during concerts? Will we see SNL cast-members Tweeting in between skits? The options for celebrities to connect to fans, and to be creative while they do it, are growing daily.

You do have to hand it to Charlie V though, not only is he trendsetter, be he responded to his coaches halftime plea by scoring 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Bucks pulled away. He also backed his Tweet up by posting two more times Sunday night. Once to comment on the win and how he said they’d turn it around at halftime, and once when he got home to let everyone know he was settling down to catch a movie. The key to Twitter, and social media in general, is not only to comment but to engage, and Charlie V is scoring points on that front.

This is going to be a short one, but I wanted to follow-up on the Johntel Franklin/Dekalb, Ill., story. Check out my previous post for details of the story and where I wrote that the Milwaukee Bucks should honor both teams.

Well, Saturday night both Franklin and his teammates from Milwaukee Madison High School and Darius McNeal and his teammates from Dekalb were guests of the Bucks in their 109-93 win over the Washington Wizards. The two teams were honored pregame and during the first quarter when they were named the “Home Court Heroes”. Both teams received plaques, 30 tickets and had the opportunity to have photos taken with Bucks players.

In another sign of sportsmanship from Dekalb, the “Barbs” as they’re called, collected donations at their game Friday night to help the family of Johntel Franklin. I’m sure Franklin would much rather have his mother back, but hopefully it eases the pain a little knowing how much people have risen to the occasion for him.

Kudos to the Bucks for honoring both teams and to Dekalb High School for the amazing sportsmanship that has been shown! Once again, hopefullywe’ll see them at the ESPY’s.

I posted a few updates to my original post about the story of the Dekalb, Ill., boys basketball team showing ultimate sportsmanship in their game against Milwaukee Madison, but thought some recent news warranted a follow-up.

On Friday, most likely as I was writing my original post, ABC’s “World News with Charlie Gibson” named the Dekalb team their “Person of the Week“, and the Milwaukee Madison coach, Aaron Womack, Jr., wrote a letter to the editor in Dekalb’s local paper. So the Dekalb team is definitely getting their due.

My post specifically mentioned the Milwaukee Bucks and it looks like they’re stepping up to the plate as well. According to the Daily Chronicle, Dekalb’s paper, the Bucks have invited the “Barbs” to their Saturday, February 28 game versus the Washington Wizards.

Dekalb will get a chance to meet the team pregame and be honored at halftime. Kudos to the Bucks for stepping up to the plate and making this happen. Yes, they’ll get great press, but it’s for all the right reasons.

With today being the NBA trade deadline, I thought it would be fun to discuss what it’s like to be a PR person for an NBA team when a trade goes down. This might not be a real sexy post, but hopefully you find it interesting.

I won’t get into all the details, or else we’d be here all day, but I’ll discuss some of the more interesting aspects. My time with the Boston Celtics was particularly hectic, as Executive Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge is usually one of the more active GM’s.

Every team is different, but in my experience the calm before the storm was more like being a really tapped in fan. The Celtics business office is about 30 minutes from the basketball facility, so the PR staff was pretty much watching ESPN and Chad Ford’s chats just like everybody else.

The difference lies in that when a rumor comes up you have the ability to verify it pretty quickly. If I heard from one of the executives that a rumor was completely false, then I would just sit back and laugh at some of the ridiculous online chatter, and there was always plenty of that. If it was real, then I’d do my best to get all the details and put our plan into drive.

One of the most enjoyable parts of working the in NBA is that the PR people from different teams are more like a fraternity as opposed to competitors. If you’re working on a trade then you’re in constant contact with that teams PR people. You discuss who sends the press release first, usually the team making the bigger splash, and timing of the release. This is important, because the first release out usually frames how the ticker on ESPN and other outlets report the trade.

We’d also swap player bios and stories, but PR people in sports don’t discuss stats in this instance, your looking for information that can help you in your job. Is this player difficult to deal with? Is it hard to get him to speak to the media pre-game? Is there a certain angle when approaching him that will make it easier to get him to do press for you?

Of course the PR staff wants to win games, but you also need to be able to do your job, and some players are more willing than others. When you see a player on ESPN or your local news, chances are a PR person from that team had to convince, or even beg, him to do the interview, no matter how big the smile on his face is on your screen.

I specifically remember swapping stories with PR people in the Cleveland Cavaliers front office back when the Celtics traded for Ricky Davis. Anyone familiar with that trade knows that the Celtics were losing Tony Battie and Eric Williams, both popular players, phenomenal locker-room guys and fairly easy for us to work with.

So, our PR staff was a little worried when we found out about the trade. Besides being good guys, T-Batt and E-Will were our go-to-guys when we needed someone for an interview. For a PR person in sports the trade is just as much about stats, as it is about guys that are great with the media, in the community, and easy to work with. Those players are golden to PR and Community Relations pros.

Needless to say I was put at ease a bit when the Cleveland PR people, to my surprise, let me know that Ricky Davis was pretty easy to, despite the public’s’ perception of him.

Now that we had all the details and info, the rest of the afternoon, prior to the press conference, is debunking rumors, calling reporters to notify them of the time and location, and setting up the podium and mics. Real fun stuff, but the calls can come quick when a rumor is out there. Usually reporters have aspects of the trade right, it’s the throw-in players they’re usually off on.

The press conference is where the fun gets going again. Besides the actual press conference, you have the post podium scrum and one-on-ones need to be set up. Everybody wants a one-on-one, but you only have so much time, and the GM and coach only have so much patience, so keeping all the different media outlets happy can be challenging. Usually the major metros will get a one-on-one and the smaller suburban papers and stations are relegated to the scrum.

You also have to make sure you get the first exclusive to the flagship TV and radio. They pay a lot of money for broadcasting rights, and access is one of their main added benefits. Giving them first dibs or added access is a must, for the most part.

After the press conference, one-on-ones and flagship exclusives, it’s usually time to break everything down, grab a beer and get some rest. What? You thought it was over? No, we have to do it all again tomorrow when the new players arrive in town. It seems pretty quick and easy, but I probably just went over an 8:30am-8:30pm day.