PR in Sports

NFLPA Launches NFLLockout Campaign

It’s no secret both the NFL and NBA are heading towards what are sure to be contentious labor negotiations between players and owners this summer. There’s a real chance both leagues could be headed toward lockouts as well. I’ve always thought this to be a fascinating aspect of the fan-player and fan-owner dynamics.

When you break it down to its core, who are players? They’re employees, granted very well compensated employees, but they’re still employees. Who are owners? They’re employers. Finally, who are about 99% of the fans? Employees of some kind. So it stands to reason that fans would identify more with players during these negotiations, right?

Not the case. Fans play the “I’d play for free” card and have a very difficult time relating to millionaire players, but have no problem backing billionaire owners. For some reason the Players Association’s of the NFL, NBA and MLB have had a difficult time getting their message across to everyday fans.

The PR playbook has always been to have the head of the players union play hard ball in a series of media tours. They attack commissioners and owners in each league, roll out the players negotiation talking points and essentially attempt to take the heat while shielding players from the dialogue. But that strategy usually fails with fans. Fans have been unable to buy into that separation between the union as an entity and the individual players.

But, the NFLPA is finally changing that playbook. In what makes perfect sense as this is the first real major sports collective bargaining agreement negotiation in the Social Media Age, the NFLPA is taking the battle online, launching the website NFLLockout.com, a twitter account and Facebook Page.

But there’s more to the strategy, not only have they launched these sites, they’ve branded the campaign “NFL Lockout”. It’s difficult in some cases to even tell if the NFLPA is actually affiliated. NFLLockout.com is basically a blog standing on its own, not a campaign living on the official NFLPA website. Although its crystal clear which side and whose message the campaign is backing.

So, they’ve essentially used the online campaign to change the connection with fans, who fans view as the villain and turned fans into ambassadors of both the campaign and the players. Instead of talking about millions of dollars already millionaire players might lose, a simply unrelatable concept for the average person, the NFLPA is using the “NFL Lockout” campaign to frame owners as a group trying to stop football and take football away from fans.

To bring awareness to the campaign the NFLPA has tagged Tuesday, January 18 as #LETUSPLAY DAY, an online movement where they’ve created the hashtag #LETUSPLAY. The genius behind #LETUSPLAY DAY is several prepared Facebook and Twitter posts where they ask fans to post “…help NFL players and fans #blockthelockout” to Facebook and Twitter. What does this accomplish? It positions fans and players as being on the same side of the debate and puts even more pressure on the owners.

It will be interesting to see if the campaign has legs and ultimately keeps fan opinion with the players for the long-term, especially the closer we get to an actual lockout towards the end of summer. It will take patience for the NFLPA to stick to their guns and not go back to the old playbook, but in the short-term this was a tremendous PR move.

Now we’ll have to see if the NBPA can be as creative and forward thinking, but one thing I can tell you is to not bother searching GoDaddy for the NBALockout.com domain name, it’s already taken.

However long it takes, at the core of all of this is a daily tribute, a daily thank you, a daily affirmation of gratitude that has been earned a million times over by the men and women who have worn the uniform.

Doesn’t sound like something a “regular Joe” would say, right? More like a crafted message from a politician’s speechwriter or some other high ranking government official. But that quote comes from Dave Cummings, a New Hampshire father of three young children, a communications director for a Realtors association and a member of his towns school board.

Now that’s a regular Joe, right?

But, Dave Cummings is no regular Joe. He’s the man behind Hoops For Heroes, a non-profit with the mission of providing financial support for those that have sacrificed for our nation. Dave’s daily tribute? He’s not just shooting, but MAKING anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 free throws everyday, and he’s been doing this since Veterans Day 2009!  Yes, I said 2009. Everyday.

To put that in perspective, Kevin Durant led the NBA in free throws made in 2009-10 and he made 756 the entire season. Dave makes more than that everyday!

As of this writing Dave has made 587,007 free throws.

The goal? 1,000,000 made free throws

The ultimate goal? To donate $1,000,000 to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

To date, Dave has raised $43,681 for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. To make this happen Dave wakes up before work and stays up late after work. He mostly shoots in his driveway, but when the weather in New Hampshire is too much (he’s set the “inside bar” at 5 degrees, yes you read that right) he goes to a local school, but he shoots every day. He’s literally a man on a mission.

I generally use this blog to comment on popular sports stories and how they could have been handled better in terms of PR, or highlight ones handled really well, but this time I want to use this blog to get more PR for a story. Dave has done well spreading his mission, he’s been in USA Today and recently shot one of his free throws during a timeout of a Celtics game at the TD Garden in Boston.

But he needs more help. Correct that, he deserves more help. So I ask you to make a donation, share this post, follow his blog, follow his daily free throw updates on Twitter, “like” his Facebook Page, check out his YouTube Channel and help spread his amazing mission to more people and hopefully raise more money for our fallen soldiers.

My goal? I want to help get Hoops For Heroes more attention. Maybe get the NBA involved, it would be a great match. NBA All-Star Weekend is coming up next month, Dave could shoot a free throw during a timeout of the game on National TV, or better yet how about the NBA Finals?

Either way, this story needs more attention, Dave deserves a big thank you himself and most importantly the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and our many service men and women and their families need more funds.

I haven’t blogged in a while due to my wife and I having our second child, a son, in March. Needless to say both time and sleep have been extremely limited over the last six months. Many things have gone down in the sports world during this time that I wanted to write about, but when you’re a walking zombie it’s tough to get your thoughts together:).

Some sad news over the weekend compelled me to break my blog silence, and hopefully post more regularly going forward. Sunday morning I heard the news that longtime Detroit Pistons PR Man, Matt Dobek, had passed away when I received an e-mail from Jeff Twiss, my friend, former boss and longtime Boston Celtics PR Man.

It was a shocking message to receive as Dobek was only 51 years old. He worked for the Pistons for 29 years, sported three NBA Championship rings and served as the PR Representative for the original 1992 Dream Team. He was highly respected in the NBA and sports PR world.

Honestly, I didn’t know Dobek all that well, there’s countless people in the NBA that knew him better and could share stories that dwarf mine. But, after reading Jack McCallum’s article on SI.com Tuesday regarding Dobek’s passing, I felt compelled to share a time that Dobek had helped me out when I needed it. (By the way, McCallum’s article is a must read, for it’s background on Dobek, but also as an insight into the world of being a PR person for a professional sports team)

It was the 2004-05 NBA season, the Pistons were making annual runs to the Eastern Conference Finals, and I was in Detroit,well Auburn Hills, with the Celtics for a regular season game. Prior to the trip, Twiss informed me Tommy Heinsohn, Celtics Hall of Famer, Championship coach and current broadcaster requested 4 tickets for a friend in the Detroit area. And when Tommy makes a request you come through.

For a little background, doling out tickets can be one of the more stressful aspects of traveling with a team for a PR person. Each player gets two tickets, but almost all of them want more. There’s plenty of trading and bartering that goes on, and you always have to hope there’s some extra left over for emergencies. To complicate things even more, broadcasters don’t get tickets, so I was going to have to snag four off the top from our team allotment for Tommy before even getting to the players.

Let’s skip ahead a little. It’s 45 minutes before tip-off and I had just closed the locker room to the media. It had been a busier than normal pregame as some fires had come up that I had to put out. I was happy to finally have some down time to grab a bite before the game, so I headed to the press room. Just as I walk in I cross paths with Tommy and he checks with me to make sure his tickets are at will-call. See where this is headed?

As I thought for a second, I could feel the panic overcoming me. I realized I had completely forgotten about Tommy’s request, and to make matters worse I was wiped out of tickets. In a state of panic I did probably the worst thing. Sounding like Ralphy in A Christmas Story when he says to the mall Santa Claus “football, yeah a football”, I muttered to Tommy “tickets, yeah tickets, taken care of”.

Immediately I bolted out of the press room, scurrying in the bowels of The Palace for anyone that might be able to throw a young PR guy on one of his first solo road trips a bone. I had basically just screwed one of the all-time iconic Celtics. Who do I come across, Matt Dobek.

Matt could tell I looked more than a little flustered and asked if I needed anything. Remember, this was the heyday of the Rasheed Wallace-Chauncey Billups Pistons and the franchise was on an incredible run of sellouts. Extremely nervous to make this kind of request to one of the most tenured PR people in the league, basically admitting my mistake, I swallowed my pride and told Matt about my need for four extra tickets for Heinsohn.

Long story short, Dobek made one call and within minutes a Pistons sales rep was outside our locker room with four tickets, good tickets, for Tommy Heinsohn’s guests. Crisis averted thanks to Matt Dobek!

Again, I didn’t know him very well, and this was a less than earth-shattering story, but it certainly meant a lot to me. It would have been extremely embarrassing to hear about Tommy Heinsohn’s guests not getting into the building that night, and might have ended my road trips with the Celtics for a long while. So thanks Matt! RIP!

P.S. Twisster, if you’re reading this I hope you can look back and have a good laugh, as I don’t think I ever shared this with you .

I was having an e-mail discussion with my buddy Chappy Wednesday morning. Chappy lives in Boston, and if you regularly read this blog you know I’ve lived there as well, so our discussion inevitably ended up on the Massachusetts Senate results. We discussed a few different aspects of the race, which eventually led to Keith Olbermann’s comments following the outcome, a win by Republican Scott Brown.

When discussing Olbermann’s editorial, our exchange went into whether Olbermann poses a PR problem for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. If you remember, it wasn’t too long ago that Goodell had some harsh words for Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh was attempting to become a minority owner with a group looking to buy the St. Louis Rams. The basis of Goodell’s objection to Limbaugh being part of the NFL was that “divisive comments” have no place in the NFL.

What does this have to do with Keith Olbermann? For those that don’t know, besides having his own show on MSNBC, Olbermann also co-hosts NBC’s Football Night in America, the NFL’s primetime Sunday night showcase each week.

There’s no question Goodell was under pressure to respond to criticism, whether right or wrong, about Limbaugh’s bid to become an owner. But, by entering the Limbaugh debate so strongly, did Goodell open himself up to answering what exactly is divisive language, from a political perspective, according to the NFL? It’s not out of the realm that reporters, or political groups with an agenda for that matter, could call for Goodell to respond to whether Olbermann’s comments are “divisive”.

Now, this is a Sports PR/Marketing blog, not a political blog, so I’m not really interested in debating conservative/liberal or Limbaugh/Olbermann, at least not in this space.

The question is, did Goodell overplay his hand with Limbaugh, almost setting a precedent where he has to respond when anyone affiliated with the NFL enters political debate? Is it out of line to question Goodell about whether Olbermann is too “divisive” to co-host Football Night in America? Should the NFL just stay away from extreme political commentators/figures playing a visible role in the league?

What say you?

Disclaimer: I hope we can have a healthy debate in the comments section, sticking to the PR aspects of this topic. Any comments using crude language or attacking another poster will be deleted.

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I stumbled upon an old Bill Simmons (@SportsGuy33) column in which he discusses the dwindling access that reporters have to today’s athlete. His general premise is that social media is boxing out tradition sports media. Simmons hearkens back to a time when David Halberstam had one-on-one access for his book The Breaks of the Game, and reporters often hungout with the very athletes they covered. He calls it the “Scotch ‘n Sirloin Era”, with the current era being “The Twitter Era”.

But, Simmons may not be the best authority on this topic. In my time in the Boston Celtics PR Department, I never saw Simmons in the locker room or at a shoot-around during media access, and never had a player interview request from him cross my desk, or that of my co-workers. But, his column still raises an interesting topic.

How has the role of the PR person and sports media access in general been affected by social media, if at all? Is social media basically boxing out the traditional sports media?

To gain a little more informed insight, I spoke with someone who’s been in the trenches on this issue from the start, long-time NBA PR man Terry Lyons (@TerryLyons). Lyons worked in the NBA from his days as a PR intern in 1981, up until 2007, when he moved on to start Terry Lyons Sports Marketing LLC. During his time, Lyons worked every NBA Finals, All-Star Weekend, NBA Draft and international event, including serving as the PR person for the Original Dream Team in 1992. He knows and understands this issue as well as anyone!

One word dominated our discussion, “relationships.” Media access has changed, but according to Lyons, it’s better. Like in the “old days”, reporters just have to be willing to build relationships. “People have to develop relationships,” Lyons said. “PR people can assist in that process, but the individual personalities get it done. The media that take time to get to know the players are still the ones that the players end up trusting more, and they’ll get the access.”

Yes, in the NBA specifically, media seating continues to move further from the court, and the hordes of media surrounding players has increased tremendously. But, has the access actually “dwindled faster than A-Rod’s pectorals”, as Simmons put it?

“Access is tremendous,” said Lyons. “NBA players are available more than ever. Shoot-around is a great time, it’s a little easier on the road when there’s less numbers, but if a reporter can develop a close enough relationship with a player, there’s no reason they can’t get the player to walk back to the hotel and grab a cup of coffee with them. It isn’t hard if they spend the time, then they’ll get all the access they need.”

Simmons mentions how athletes use of social media pretty much cuts out the middle man, specifically reporters. But, according to Lyons, “Athletes direct access to fans is not new, it’s just changed. New used to be doing live interviews on radio, then it was TV, then color TV, then satellite and cable TV, now the Internet. Media are now more threatened and more defensive of their ‘turf’… they missed the boat, as they say, because they aren’t a dying breed. The Boston Globe reporters are now Boston.com reporters.  Period.”

To answer the question, the access athletes and fans have to each other has evolved, and the way these mediums affect traditional sports media has changed, but the access is still there. Like Lyons suggests, access is still based on tried and true relationship building. Something social media can’t “box out”, it can only enhance, assuming traditional media embraces the changes.

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David Stern is showing fans, media and players they will be safe in NBA arenas

I owe Mike Schaffer, who runs #SportsPRChat on Twitter, a big thanks. I began participating in the chats last week, and not only are the they a great forum to connect with other sports and PR professionals, but they’re also a great source of blog ideas! With that said, another great topic was brought up last week, whether or not the NBA, fans and media are making too big a deal of the Washington Wizards Gilbert Arenas bringing a gun into the locker room.

For those living under a rock, Arenas pleaded guilty to a felony gun charge for bringing an unregistered gun into the Washington Wizards locker room. Since the initial charge, Arenas has been suspended indefinitely by the NBA, been dropped by Adidas and most likely will lose the remaining $80 million he’s still owed by the Wizards.

So, between a potential short jail stint, losing $147,208 every time the Wizards step on the court and getting killed in the media and court of public opinion, is Arenas paying too much of a price, especially considering the gun wasn’t loaded and it seemed to be more of a joke than anything else?

I say absolutely not! As someone that spent over four years working in an NBA locker room almost daily, I can attest that the phrase “the locker room is a sacred place” is accurate. What some don’t always realize is that in professional sports it’s not just the players and coaches on the inside. There’s media, team PR, marketing and community relations staff, equipment staff and trainers as well as ball boys who often times are high school kids or younger.

The Arenas situation has me wondering, maybe I’ve been in a locker room that had guns inside. It’s definitely a possibility, and I can tell you I would have been very uncomfortable had I known at the time. The ball boy thing makes this especially bad in my opinion though.

During the course of a game night it’s not uncommon for a player to have a ball boy go into his personal locker. Usually it’s something like getting money for a post-game food run. But regardless of the reason, it could have been a young ball boy that found the gun Arenas’ locker! Loaded or not, the possibility of bad outcomes are endless, and Arenas definitely broke a sacred trust.

From my personal and PR perspective, the NBA, media and sponsors are handling this situation just fine. That’s not to say Arenas doesn’t deserve a second chance, but David Stern bringing down the hammer shows media, team personnel and Arenas’ peers they will be safe in the locker room. It shows fans and sponsors the NBA is taking this issue extremely seriously.

So kudos to Stern, the Wizards and media who are holding Arenas accountable. Here’s to also hoping Arenas has learned a lesson and is able to resurrect his career.

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Mcgwire testifying before congress in 2005

I’m not interested in getting into how Mark McGwire handled the steroids issue, and his revelation that he did indeed use PED’s, we all know this has been a complete disaster for Big Mac. He lied in front of congress and he’s basically been a pariah ever since. Now he’s returning to baseball as the St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach and was almost forced to admit his wrong doings, and even in doing so, is saying steroids did not help him hit homeruns.

I do think an interesting question is how McGwire’s admission affects the Baseball Hall of Fame. At some point there will be steroid users recognized in the Hall of Fame, and someone will be the first to get in. But who that player will be is up for debate.

Shortly after McGwire’s admission I participated in #SportsPRChat, a chat session on Twitter run by Mike Schaffer (@MikeSchaffer) Director of Social Media at Brotman-Winter Fried Communications and author of The Buzz by Mike Schaffer. During Monday’s chat I had a discussion with Matt LaCasse (@MattLaCasse) about who the first steroid user in the Baseball Hall of Fame will be?

LaCasse feels McGwire will make that claim, due to being likable, finally coming clean and that being “the face” of the steroid era makes him the right candidate. He might be right, McGwire certainly has time on his side as he’s eligible (he has seven years left on the ballot) and now has a day-to-day job in baseball where he can mend fences with sportswriters, the ones who actually do the voting. But, I’m not so sure “the face” of the steroid era being the first in the Hall of Fame is such a good thing for baseball.

I argued that from a PR perspective baseball would be better off with someone like Andy Pettitte. Pettitte seems to have created the blueprint for getting past the steroid issue. When baseball’s Mitchell Report outed him as an offender, Pettitte immediately faced the music by holding a press conference.

To this day he remains a respected player and citizen in the game. I don’t recall steroids being mentioned once during his two World Series starts in 2009. In contrast, we’ve seen guys like McGwire, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds deny their use of PED’s for years, and as a result be banished from the game for the most part.

A player like Pettitte going in first would minimize the negative PR at the time of his induction, and minimize the negative press when his peers finally enter. Yes, there would still be plenty of steroid stories when McGwire, Bonds, Clemens etc. go in, but it would definitely be tempered a bit with an admitted user already in. A strike against Pettitte is that he hasn’t retired yet, so time is not on his side, as we have to wait at least six years before he’s eligible.

No matter how it plays out, I think it’s an interesting question. So, who do you think will be the first steroid user inducted into the Hall of Fame and who would be best for baseball?

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Social media exploded into the mainstream in 2009, nearly everyone now has a Twitter account and Facebook profile, and this trend was seen in no greater place than the world of sports. The presence of professional athletes in social media has almost been unmatched in the entertainment/celebrity world, but this hasn’t come without a price and some lessons learned the hard way.

Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas had fans on Twitter begging him to stop tweeting about his bringing an unloaded gun into the Wizards locker room. Former Chiefs running back Larry Johnson (@ToonIcon) was cut by the team partly due to criticizing his coach via Twitter. And, just last week, Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson (@DzzJackson22) was caught talking trash to the Dallas Cowboys using Twitter. Arenas has since taken down his Twitter page and both Johnson and Jackson have made theirs private, but those are just a few of the many examples of the social media mishaps from athletes over the last year.

Some have called for athletes to stay away from Twitter and Facebook, but that’s crazy. Those same members of the media asking athletes to stay away from Twitter wouldn’t call for athletes to stop dealing with traditional media merely because they said the wrong thing during an interview or press conference, right? Social media isn’t the issue, the issue is being smarter in how social media is used.

With that said, below are five social media tips for professional athletes:

1) Behind the Scenes – In my experience in public relations and marketing with athletes and celebrities, I’ve found that the most popular features are the behind the scenes features. Fans love photos from the locker room or updates from road trips, features that traditional media don’t always have access too. For the most part, fans would rather get their hard news from beat writers or ESPN. Athletes should be posting colorful insights to their everyday lives. Thoughts on a movie, photos of boarding the team plane, but not sharing intimate team and personal details.

Example: Celtics forward Shelden Williams (@SheldenWilliams) and his wife Sparks forward Candice Parker (@Candace_Parker) posted photos of pumpkins they were carving over Halloween and asked fans to vote on whose was better. They received plenty of response from fans, while giving insight into their lives without airing the dirty laundry.

2) Fan Engagement – Athletes and celebrities can get away with not following or directly engaging with fans in social media, but why? What’s the fun in just sending out messages, but not interacting with anyone? Athletes have plenty of demands on their time, but will gain so much more by finding time to follow-back and directly communicate with fans. Find a few hours a week on the team plane, in the hotel or when at home relaxing, the payoff will be endless both professionally and personally.

Example: Check out Shaquille O’Neal’s Twitter page (@The_Real_Shaq) and you’ll see more @replies than anything else. He’s listening to his fans and replying to them on a regular basis, this is how you maximize your social media interaction. In the past he’s also given fans a location of where he is and then handed out free tickets to the first ones to find him in public. Brilliant, although with an assist to Digital Royalty!

3) Where’s the Beef? – I’m not sure where it is, but I know it shouldn’t be in your social media plan. Do not air your beef with coaches, teammates, opponents, fans or anyone else. Do not respond to slights from members of the media, post bulletin board material or address legal issues.  We’ve seen the results from Arenas, Johnson, Jackson and many many more.

Example: Too many to count!

4) Develop a Comprehensive Plan – An athletes social media plan should be far more than a Twitter account and Facebook Page. Professional athletes should all have a main website where they host most of their content, including news, events and community outreach. Links to the main website should be included in all social media activity and links to follow, friend and subscribe should be throughout the main site as well. Fans need to be able to find all their online actives throughout each interaction.

Example: Jets defensive back Kerry Rhodes has a phenomenal social media plan. Rhodes website serves as the main hub. The site includes links to all of his social media activity and hosts his most important news, including, off the field activities, plenty of video and information on his charitable foundation. A quick look at Rhodes Twitter page (@kerryrhodes) also shows that he’s driving followers back to his site (social media hub) while also including links to his Facebook Page and ustream.tv channel.

5) Get Trained – Last, but maybe most important, get trained! Most professional leagues require traditional media training at the beginning of each season. If social media training isn’t a part of that session, then athletes should ask their team PR people, agent or hire a consultant themselves, but similar to traditional media training, social media training is imperative.  When an athlete makes a mistep with traditional media they can usually find a way out or spin it, when screwing up with social media it’s much more difficult to shift blame and spin because it’s their own words or videos front and center.

Hopefully those tips help, their by no means the only tips and can really be applied to anyone delving into social media, but athletes are definitely in dire need of some social media assistance. Here’s to hoping even more athletes start participating in the conversation, but the right way!

Have any more social media tips, I’d love to hear them in the comments!

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Clippers Broadcasters Ralph Lawler and Michael Smith

I know what you’re thinking, if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it actually make a sound? Well, apparently there is someone out there that actually watches the Los Angeles Clippers play basketball, and he’s not happy with the Clippers broadcasting duo of Ralph Lawler and Michael Smith.

Arya Towfighi, a Clippers season-ticket holder of Iranian decent, was offended over an exchange the duo had when the Clippers visited the Memphis Grizzlies last Wednesday. The exchange came towards the end of the game when Hamed Haddadi, the first Iranian-born player in the NBA, entered the game. According to the L.A. Times, Lawler and Smith had the following exchange.

Smith: Look who’s in

Lawler: Hamed Haddadi. Where’s he from?

Smith: He’s the first Iranian to play in the NBA. (Smith pronounced Iranian as “Eye-ranian,” a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)

Lawler: There aren’t any Iranian players in the NBA. (repeating Smith’s mispronunciation.)

Smith: He’s the only one.

Lawler: He’s from Iran?

Smith: I guess so.”

Lawler: That Iran?

Smith: Yes.

Lawler: The real Iran?

Smith: Yes.

Lawler: Wow. Haddadi that’s H-A-D-D-A-D-I.

Smith: You’re sure it’s not Borat’s older brother?

Smith: If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I’m going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part.

Lawler: Here’s Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball.

Smith: Especially the post players.

Lawler: I don’t know about their guards.

Not a shining moment from Lawler and Smith, no question about that. But according to the L.A. Times article, Towfighi’s e-mail was the only complaint received by Fox Sports Prime Ticket. I know, I know, there’s a chance that was 100% of the viewing audience. As a result, the station suspended Lawler and Smith from calling the Clippers next game last Friday against the Denver Nuggets.

The suspension resulted in multiple stories from the L.A. Times, a headline on espn.com and articles from virtually every other major sports outlet. It appears Fox Sports Prime Ticket drew far greater attention for the suspension than the actual comments made by Lawler and Smith.

Lawler is one of the most respected play-by-play men in the NBA and hasn’t missed a broadcast in 25 years. That doesn’t excuse the comments, but let’s also keep in mind that there was only that one complaint logged. Maybe an in-person apology to Towfighi and an on-air mention might have served the purpose without drawing the extra negative attention.

Keeping in mind that harsh punishments are often expected from offensive comments, my question to PR people and sports fans is. Should organizations be looking to minimize greater negative publicity from the punishment when disciplining broadcasters or company spokespeople for offensive public comments?

Update: Brian Cuban, brother of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, has a slightly different take on this issue on his blog The Cuban Revolution.

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The Sharpie is a must-have for any Sports PR Pro

One of my favorite PR/Social Media blogs is LAF, penned by PR Pro Lauren Fernandez. She has some amazing insight into the world of PR and Social Media, and her most recent post “What’s In Your PR Handbag/Briefcase” is no different. In the post, Fernandez lists three must-haves for every PR person’s handbag or briefcase.

What really stood out to me was that her must-haves were ordinary, and I mean that in a good way. They were simple items, but they were items you’ll be glad to have on-hand and kick yourself if you don’t.

After reading the post and some of the comments left by readers, it got me thinking. PR is PR, but there are differences depending on the industry, especially in the sports and/or entertainment world. So, I decided I wanted to make a quick list of a few items that will score points for the sports PR person.

Three Items the Sports PR Person Should Always Have on Hand

1. Sharpie – Of course, being at an event with an athlete means autograph seekers, but surprisingly, most of them don’t come armed with their own sharpie. Turning down a little kid with a card or ball in hand is not the position you want your athlete to be in. Yes, they’ll look bad, but you know what? It’s your fault. Best move is to always have 3-5 Sharpies in your pocket or bag (the person doing the signing will definitely give a few away without realizing it). Disclaimer: Also be prepared to turn the autograph seekers away when it’s become too much for the athlete, that’s ok too.

2. Water – Having water on hand seems like a minute detail, but it can help keep an athlete comfortable, and in turn engaged, when you have them doing a press conference followed by one-on-one’s with TV stations, columnists, radio stations and beat writers. Is it a huge deal not to have a bottle handy? Probably not. But, it’s a little thing that can help build/strengthen a relationship when you hand over a bottle without even being asked.

3. Media Guide – This definitely applies more to the sports PR person working directly for a team, especially if it’s post-game or a  press conference to announce a new player or coach. Nothing is worse, for you or the writer, when they need stats ASAP to meet a deadline, and you don’t have them handy. Sounds archaic in this day and age of instant information, but believe it or not, a lot of sports writers still prefer an actual media guide to minimizing browsers while trying to look up stats and finish a story.

Seems pretty basic, but these items will show you’re on your game. So, what do you like to have handy that is vital for a PR Pro in the sports world?

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