NBA, NFL AND CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
Gambling Vs. Dogfighting – Which Harms a Brand and The Public’s Trust More ?
(as published in Bulldog Reporter’s Daily ‘Dog)
The NBA’s referee betting scandal is much more dangerous for the league’s brand than the NFL’s ongoing issues. While much of the sports and news world at large has been focusing on Michael Vick and his indictment on Federal Dog fighting charges, news Friday that NBA ref Tim Donaghy bet on basketball games he officiated over the past two seasons may prove to be a much bigger public relations mess for the NBA than Vick’s off the field actions.
From a PR perspective, the NBA now has the prospect of every fan watching each game looking for questionable calls that a referee ‘on the take’ might make to swing a point spread one way or another. There is an inherent disconnect for professional sports these days between gambling and sports (I.e. Why does every major newspaper in the U.S. publish lines but gambling is illegal?). For a league that even the media has always joked conspires to put certain team in the NBA finals this could be a tremendous blow, and I don’t see it going away any time soon.
In terms of handling this Public Relations nightmare, NBA Commissioner David Stern needs to act quickly and forcefully. In order for the public to be convinced that the games are in no way fixed, I’d expect the Commissioner to do a full investigation and any referee, player or anyone associated with the league that has the slightest tie to gambling or organized crime will likely be publicly sacrificed to minimize this public relations nightmare. They need to act quickly, and forcefully.
There’s a big difference between this and the Michael Vick or Pacman Jones issues which have marred the NFL off-season – Those issues have been NFL off the field issues – Individuals rather than institutions and from a league perspective can be confined to the individual player. This issue strikes at the very integrity of the NBA and could have long lasting effects.
Ronn Torossian
July 25th, 2007 at 3:49 am
I agree with you Ronn about the more pressing public relations issue for the NBA. Since the scandal could extend beyond just one person and be a symptom of larger security issues, the public’s trust in the NBA could easily waver if the right steps aren’t taken.
What I find interesting is how the NFL commissioner is quick to order Michael Vick to not attend training camp which separates the individual from the league, but the NBA commissioner doesn’t seem as quick to order dramatic changes to the NBA’s security protocols to ensure a larger issue doesn’t worsen.
It will be interesting to see how things develop with both of these frustrating situations.