Month: May 2019

Laremy Tunsil was a projected top five pick in the 2016 NFL draft, largely due to his successful career at Ole Miss and the fact he played one of the most important positions in the NFL: Left Tackle. Being the guy that protects the quarterback’s blind slide, left tackles are often among the leagues highest paid players. Everything lined up for Tunsil to be picked in the top five- until 30 minutes before the draft.

An “anonymous” hacker accessed Tunsil’s twitter account at approximately 7:37 PM ET, about 30 minutes before the Rams had the number one pick in the draft. At this time the pre-draft show was airing on ESPN, and news quickly got to the set that the hacker posted a video of Tunsil smoking marijuana in a gas mask in front of a confederate flag. Tunsil claims the video was five years old, but users posted images of him five years ago showing he was noticeably slimmer.

In the pre-draft process, teams vet players extensively for any red flags or off the field issues that would give bad press to the organization. Normally these get uncovered months before the draft takes place, not thirty minutes before. Because teams did not have adequate time to get background context to this story, Tunsil fell in the draft, and fell hard. From being a consensus top five pick (even number one overall by some experts) to falling to pick 13, Tunsil lost almost $15 million in the process. According to the NFL’s rookie wage scale, you make a certain amount on your first contract based on what spot you are drafted in. At the conclusion of a four year rookie deal, the number 1 overall pick would make $26 million, compared to $10 million after four years for spot 13.

Tunsil’s agent, or whoever was in charge, failed him by having very poor response time to the incident. The video was up for 30 minutes on his twitter account, which may as well be two days. He later deleted his account, re-activated to post an apology, and then deleted the apology tweet later. Mixed in with all of this was a statement from his agent Jimmy Sexton: “It is BS, his account was hacked.” Deflecting blame with a simultaneous apology just wasn’t the right move and showed they were not on the same page.

The Baltimore Ravens had the eighth selection in the draft and needed a left tackle, but opted to choose Ronnie Stanley instead of Tunsil, a clear sign teams were not interested after this incident surfaced. However, after the Dolphins picked Tunsil at 13, analysts were praising the Dolphins for picking “the best player in the draft.” After the draft was over, Tunsil was interviewed about the incident, where he didn’t run into too many issues.

Unknowingly while this was going on, his Instagram was hacked claiming he took money while he was in college, which would be an NCAA violation. Tunsil denied this while questioned, but right before he was ushered off stage he said: “It may have happened, yeah.”

Due to the lack of guidance throughout the process and proper media training, Tunsil compounded one issue by admitting to a second, and overall lost $15 million by not being prepared for a crisis.

In 2008, Manchester City Football Club, a perennial middle of the table team in the shadow of the European champions Manchester United, were purchased by Sheikh Mansour, the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and half brother of the current President of the UAE. The Mansour family is worth an estimated $1 trillion and vowed to inject money into Man City to make them a football powerhouse in the Premier League. While Mansour is loaded financially, he is not involved in the day to day proceedings and has only attended one game in person. He simply finances and leaves the publicity aspect to an extensive public relations team.

The unofficial head of this is Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the owner of the other Man City stake titled City Football Group. Mubarak is the one who takes interviews from the press and talks about the expectations for the team. Mubarak owns a wealthy construction company in the UAE and has enormous influence in the club and with sponsors. Mubarak was the main figure in Manchester City’s recent Amazon Prime Documentary “All or Nothing” in which he explained the inner workings of the team and why they decided to hire manger Pep Guardiola, one of the best managers of his generation.

In late November, German newspaper Der Speigel published documents obtained by a football watchdog website titled Football Leaks in which FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Man City reached a settlement of $35 million after City violated Financial Fair Play provisions. Normally when one violates FFP protocol, it is a one-year ban from the Champions League, the most prestigious club competition in world football, which leads to around $180 million in lost revenue.

The lack of rule enforcement is troubling, because FIFA knows that Man City draws huge ratings in the Champions League and that BeIN sports, the channel which airs many Man City games, is owned by Qatari investors who have ties to Mansour’s business dealings. The internal reactions from Man City and the lack of action of FIFA is threatening the integrity of their success.

Financial Fair Play is FIFA’s attempt to level the playing field, as Mansour’s seemingly unlimited wealth to field the best team cannot be matched by any other club in the world. In simple terms, the provision was made so teams in debt could not spend more than they make in player signings. Any money that came directly from the owner, as in Mansour’s case, would be listed immediately as a debt, but Manchester City cleverly got around this by using money earned from club sponsors Etihad Airways, Arabatec, and telecommunications companies in the Middle East- all owned by Mansour or the royal family of the UAE.

Amnesty International has repeatedly criticized the UAE for mistreatment of women, lack of fair trials, religious freedom and workers compensation. Over the past five years, it has repeatedly condemned what has been going on at Manchester City:

“The UAE’s enormous investment in Manchester City is one of football’s most brazen attempts to ‘sportswash’ a country’s deeply tarnished image through the glamour of the game,” said Amnesty International’s Gulf researcher Devin Kenney.

“As a growing number of Manchester City fans will be aware, the success of the club has involved a close relationship with a country that relies on exploited migrant labour and locks up peaceful critics and human rights defenders.”

Der Spiegel claims City bosses ignored warnings from their own public relations experts about reputation damage and increased scrutiny to sign a three-year, regional sponsorship agreement worth £7m a year with Arabtec in 2014, a company Mubarak leads which has been cited for numerous human rights violations and poor treatment of workers.

Sheikh Mansour is not just a wealthy individual in the United Arab Emirates: he and his family run the country and make all the important decisions. People live and die by their rulings. Sportswashing is a term I was unfamiliar with, but as Der Spiegel described, a man by the name of Simon Pierce at the club was in charge of managing the image of the UAE and the Royal Family by using Manchester City’s success as a promotion for the country. The problem with this is that as the UAE’s human rights ranking continues to plummet, the silence from the top and the source of money used to fund Manchester City’s success can be traced back to mistreatment of citizens in the owner’s own country.

In an article written by the Washington Post on January 19, It was confirmed that a fan with measles attended a Portland Trail Blazers game against the Charlotte Hornets. Health officials in the area had already declared a health emergency after the number of known cases reached 23. Measles is a highly contagious disease that can be spread quickly in settings such as a basketball game with 20,000 fans in a tight proximity.

In the ongoing debate about vaccinations, anyone who hadn’t been vaccinated for measles that night at the Moda Center was especially susceptible to catching it, due to its tendency to linger airborne well after the person with it leaves the room. Normally airports are a commonplace for measles outbreaks, as people from different places around the world who may not be vaccinated come all in one location with others.

While this has been the first sports related incident with measles in nearly 30 years, one incident in particular gives us a look at what can happen to teams during an outbreak. In 1989, a measles outbreak at Siena College and University of Hartford led to spectators being banned from the conference tournament. One player on the Siena basketball team even came down with measles because of the outbreak.

While not measles, the most recent outbreak related to sports was a nasty MRSA outbreak in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers locker room that hit five players, causing them to miss games. The Bucs had to deep clean their locker room and visiting teams were afraid to use their facilities after the story broke. MRSA also affected hockey locker rooms in Canada months before that in 2015.

Something like that happening today would be unprecedented, as banning spectators from a Blazers game would be something that would make national news. The only thing recently that is comparable is when the Baltimore Orioles had to play behind closed doors due to protests over the police shooting of Freddie Gray. This controversy seems like one that can be avoided, but according to the Chicago Tribune the measles outbreak is the worst in the United States in 25 years. It recently hit O’Hare airport, which is one of the busiest in the United States, only adding to the risk it will be spread further.

Health officials in Washington and Oregon also stated that infected people visited schools, churches, malls and Portland International Airport, meaning the issue is closer to us than we may realize. As of March 19, 79 people had been affected in Washington and Oregon. Placing importance on vaccinations will help society as a whole, and will help us avoid watching the Trail Blazers play in front of no fans.

Getting an in-house position right out of college as prospective public relations (PR) professionals can be challenging, if not impossible. Although getting to the high-level communications jobs may seem daunting, the impressions I took from visiting Adidas and the Portland Trail Blazers teams were that there isn’t one path or secret to making it in the industry. At both locations they had teams of professionals who all came from different backgrounds, some crossing over from different industries but utilizing the same skillsets.

As someone interested in working in sports communications, I enjoyed the Adidas panel because I got specific advice related to the field. Conor McAvoy and Jon Shaw, who work for Adidas’ US and Global basketball brand communications departments, went in detail about how their projects in China and Europe have made Adidas the number one basketball brand globally. McAvoy specifically went in detail about some of the campaigns he’s worked on, including Derrick Rose’s best-selling shoe in 2011 and currently working with rookie Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks. McAvoy discussed how being able to speak to trends in a way the public who likes basketball and managers above you who may not fully understand basketball can understand is an important, attainable skill. McAvoy, Shaw, and Brianna Neumann, the Senior Manager of Corporate Communications, all attended the University of Oregon, either majoring in journalism or business departments.

Many of the crowd’s questions were about the panelists’ backgrounds and Adidas’ internships. While Adidas does have full-year internships for college graduates, all four panelists, including Assistant Manager of Brand Communications Ngozi Monu, did not internship directly with Adidas. Neumann, who graduated from the University of Oregon in 2009, went into detail about how working for an agency right out of college helped her decide what industry she liked best. She also described how working in industries she did not know a lot about helped her better her networking skills which ended up landing her a job at Adidas. All four panelists, and Monu, in particular, liked the culture of Adidas as an “underdog brand” in an area that is Nike’s backyard.

When visiting the Moda Center and the Trail Blazer’s communications staff, I observed a similar central message. Out of the six panelists, three were University of Oregon graduates. Michael Lewellen, VP of Corporate Communications, told a story about ticket services intern Karel Calcote, explaining how the role you first have doesn’t necessarily dictate where you will end up.

Only 16 years ago, the current President and CEO of the Portland Trail Blazers was a ticket services intern. Lewellen and Cheri Hanson, VP of Team Relations, both gave behind the scenes, honest industry advice about how they deal with the NBA, sponsors, and community relations that may have been answered differently if we were media members. Hanson occupies a role that is of interest to me, dealing with players and sponsors and being the middleman between the two. Lewellen also discussed how you do not necessarily have to work for a team to be in the sports communications industry, as companies such as Alaska Airlines and Coca-Cola have sports advertising and communications departments that work with teams from various leagues.

The story that best represents flexibility as sports communicators came from Keoki Kakigi, the Sustainability Operations Manager. Kakigi makes sure that the Moda Center is one of the most environmentally efficient buildings and answers to the media regarding facts about the building in that regard. Kakigi described how he worked at Disney theme parks for several years and had no intentions of working in the sports industry; however, since his skills were transferable to any industry, he found a great team and situation in Portland. For potential sports communicators, there are many options in order to achieve your goals but having a flexible skillset in other industries will make you more attractive to employers.

In early 2014, Baltimore Ravens star running back Ray Rice was accused of a domestic incident with his fiancee while both were intoxicated at a hotel. Rice was facing five years in prison for third-degree aggravated assault, but after reaching a deal to be put on probation and testimonies to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the NFL decided to suspend Rice for two games for the upcoming 2014 season that July. After facing initial criticism due to reports that the situation was potentially serious, Goodell tried to do damage control by making a scrambled domestic violence policy for players.

It took only a month for Goodell to backtrack on his two game suspension and realize that it was wrong, and later created a policy that included a six game suspension for the first offense of domestic violence, and a lifetime ban for the second one. A video of Rice’s incident was given to police two weeks after the incident occurred, but it was not made public until September 8, three days before the Ravens season opener.

Heavy criticism was levied against the NFL after reports that the NFL was given the video before they decided to suspend Rice for two games, which the NFL later denied. The Ravens were already preparing for Rice to miss more time due to the revised policy of six games for a first time offense, but after the public backlash of the video, they cut ties with Rice and he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL.

While six games is not nearly enough for a first time offense, it was a warning sign that the NFL suspended him indefinitely because they didn’t even follow their own protocol that they had made up weeks earlier. It showed that they weren’t going to follow a protocol and just make it up case by case. Rice would never play another down in the league, partly because of his age but partly because the NFL needed to use someone as an example because of how poorly they handled the situation from the start.

Former Ravens cornerbacks Cary Williams and Fabian Washington earned two- and one-game suspensions, respectively, for similar first-time offenses of domestic violence, showing the NFL’s lack of situational awareness considering their harsh penalties for marijuana use on players which has included full season suspensions. This didn’t just begin with Rice, but because of the graphic nature of the second video released showing Rice knocking his fiancee out in an elevator, it put a disturbing, lasting image to this issue the league was desperate to erase.

Unfortunately for the NFL, inconsistencies would continue to show. The next year, star defensive end Greg Hardy was accused of violently assaulting his girlfriend, and was suspended 10 games. After appeal it was reduced to four. Hardy was released from Carolina after other personal issues, but was still given a second chance by Dallas later on. After photos were released, Hardy wouldn’t play in the NFL again, but the optics once again looked terrible because Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was suspended the entire 2015 season for substance abuse.

More recently, two Kansas City Chiefs players Kareem Hunt and Tyreek Hill had notable domestic violence cases. Hunt was accused of an incident at a hotel in February 2018 and told the Chiefs officials a story which was later disproved by a TMZ video showing him kicking a woman lying on a floor in a hotel lobby. Hunt was let go by the Chiefs the same day, but because he was younger than Rice, teams were still interested and he later landed with the Cleveland Browns, where he is eligible to play in week nine after he serves his league imposed eight game suspension.

As for Hill, before he came into the NFL he was accused of punching his pregnant girlfriend, but the Chiefs still took a chance on him in the sixth round and he has developed into a star player. He never served a suspension upon entering the league, but recent audio tapes that leaked show Hill making threats to his girlfriend after she is accusing him on hitting their three year old son. Currently Hill is away from the team as the investigation is ongoing.

These situations show how inconsistent the NFL’s handling of domestic violence is, and the terrible message it is sending to female fans. If you are talented enough and valuable enough to at least one team, you will get a second chance. The NFL will loosely decide how many games you are suspended, and even in some cases you miss less than half the season. If the NFL is serious about its personal conduct policy, more effort will need to be shown in the beginning stages of the investigative process, not until TMZ backs them into a corner.