Over the past few weeks, there have been many things going on in the sports world that have stood out to me as far as how they pertain to public relations. Let's take a look at this one.
Jim Tressel's 6 game suspension with the Colts
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6932597/ex-ohio-state-buckeyes-coach-jim-tressel-start-indianapolis-colts-job-seventh-game
Jim Tressel, the former head football coach of The Ohio State University who resigned after it was revealed that he had knowledge of NCAA violations involving some of his players, was recently hired by the Indianapolis Colts as a replay-game consultant. Tressel met with Colts management and decided that it would be best for him to sit out six games based on the fact that some of his former players will be suspended a number of games this season in the NFL, namely Terrell Pryor. The commissioner of the NFL, who had a part in handing down Pryor's suspension, said that if the Colts would not have suspended Tressel, the NFL would have.
After learning of this I was left with a couple of questions.
1. Why is the NFL handing down punishment to people for misconduct in a former job?
2. What public relations implications does this have?
I think you will probably find plenty of opinions and answers to the first of these questions out there in the webosphere (it's a word, look it up http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Webosphere).
I'd like to expound upon the second question. The Colts were obviously being proactive in this case. They new about the Pryor situation, pun intended, and knew that by hiring Tressel they would need to make a similar move. What would this do for them from a PR standpoint? Well, I believe that it would show the fans that they are a proactive and well managed team who is in line with the operations of the league of which they are a part. It also shows fans who are questioning the hire that they are aware of the transgressions of their staff, albeit at a previous organization, and they will take appropriate action when action is needed. The Colts, and more so the NFL, are showing that they are the professional sport that will not tolerate misbehavior. I think this fits the clean-cut branding image that they are so strongly trying to put forward.
What do you think? I'd love to hear some of your opinions on the whole NFL/Colts suspension of Pryor and Tressel.
I think the suspensions are completely fair, as well as good PR. From the perspective of the fans (which, monetarily-speaking is the only perspective that matters), college football is just a stepping stone to the Pros (NFL) rather than a separate entity and the NFL is also very quick to capitalize on the popularity of college football (most easily recognized when they have each player name their alma mater during the starting line-ups at the start of NFL games). So in this sense, it's not like college football is a totally separate "job". Moreover, up until these Pryor / Tressel suspensions, going into the pros has served as an easy and lucrative escape for players / coaches who don't want to suffer the consequences of NCAA violations they have committed (e.g. Pete Carroll, Reggie Bush, former Miami Hurricane players from the past decade). By imposing these suspensions on Pryor and Tressel, the NFL is speaking to the public's sense of justice by making these NCAA rule-breakers face the music when they jaunt off to the pros. That’s my $0.02.
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