Public Relations in Professional Sports "If industry is to be successful in dealing with public opinion . . . it must learn the language of the people, it must consider the study of public opinion as important as any phase of its operations. It must recognize that public opinion can be measured, and utilize the increasingly scientific methods developing today for gauging it"(Ross) PR today, has undergone a massive restructuring and organization and is now gaining recognition worldwide. An offshoot of this is PR in sports. The sports industry in the U.S. generates $213 - $350 billion a year as revenues and is growing by the day (ESPN). Everyone tries to cash in on their benefits. Sports PR have come a long way. Today it is far more dynamic and complex. Public Relations is a very broad industry, serving a wide variety of institutions in society such as businesses, trade unions, government agencies, voluntary associations, foundations, hospitals, schools, colleges, and sports teams. Sports in the last fifty years have changed an amazing amount. It used to be just two teams playing against each other strictly for the love of the sport and for the enjoyment of the few people in attendance. As time went on and attendance and interest in professional sports grew so did the cash flow. Teams began adding more coaches as well scouts. It became obvious that a font office staff was needed to take care of the day to day operations of sports teams. In the 1940s baseball owner Bill Veeck changed the games even more when he promised the game to be the least exciting part of the evening. He hosting Ladies’ Night, Fireworks Fridays, and a Disco Demolition Night in which he blew up a pile of old records, Veeck brought sports into a new era (Veeck & Linn, 1962). Bill Veeck was the first true PR man in sports. He sold out stadium after stadium, in several different cities. The sports PR which Bill Veeck started has now evolved and is a much different brand of PR then every other industry. In order for an Athletic team to have effective PR, they require very large in-house staffs which are very diverse in there job descriptions and responsibilities. The first and broadest group is the basic public relations staff. The basic public relations staff takes care of the basic day to day of the organization. They are the people who write and release the updates on the team to ... ... middle of paper ... ...Bernie Parent spoke to the sell-out crowd of 17,000 while Pelle’s #31 hung in black above the ice. The spoke about the positives that Pelle gave Philadelphia and there was no mention of alcohol. The PR director at the time, Joe Kadlac made sure that Pelle’s death would not look bad on the team for allowing him to drink and drive but instead showed he was a team player. A fan in the upper level had a sign that simply read, “Get Pelle’s Name On The Cup, Its His Last Chance.” Public Relations are a critical part of sports. It is what puts people in the seats pays the athletes and builds the stadiums. Public Relations are what make sports what it is today. If it were not for today’s ever changing public relations industry sports would not be what they are today. Sources Bill Veeck with Ed Linn, “Veeck--As in Wreck”, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1962 The Baseball Library T.J. Ross, The Public Relations Problem of Industry, American Management Series (New York, 1937), pp. 6--9. Crafting the national pastime's image: The history of major league baseball public relations William B Anderson. Journalism and Communication Monographs. Columbia: Spring 2003. Vol. 5, Iss. 1; pg. 5
" Baseball Parks 1 (1996): 1. Dortch, Shannon. "The Future of Baseball. " American Demographics 18 (1996) 25-30. Jerry Maguire. Dir.
Whether it's Mark McGwire breaking the home run record, Terell Davis breaking the rushing record, or superstars retiring, Americans have always had a fascination with sports. Sports have provided entertainment even before radio or television. Sports provided many things for the fans that watched them. Sports allowed communities to grow stronger and provided great athletes to look up to. With the arrival of television sports took on a whole new meaning. Being able to watch a game together gave the community a new way to bond, giving individuals a visual image of their favorite athletes. The television also opened up the industry of commercialization. Sports, televison, and merchandising on television became a combination that continues even today.The community in the 1950's was like one big family. Children played in the streets, everyone knew everyone else on the block, and sports created unbreakable bonds. Children and their fathers, neighbors, and even complete strangers could always talk about sports. As televison began to fill American homes, neighbors flocked to each others house to watch different events. Even neighbors who loved different sides crowded around the television to watch the event. Whether it was baseball, wrestling, golf, roller derby, or another sport, television allowed the community to grow closer. It is estimated that one sporting event drew an audience of 150,000 viewers. This is remarkable considering there was only about 5,000 television sets in American homes. That is about 30 people per set! Sports and television did more than just bring the community closer together. Sports on television became so popular that merchandising became a booming business. Whether at a game or sitting in the living room, authentic merchandise was a must for any fan. Much like the merchandise in Karal Ann Marlings book As Seen On TV, the merchandising industry exploited the people.
Carroll, Brian. “Early Twentieth-Century Heroes: Coverage of Negro League Baseball in the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender.” Journalism History 32.1(2006): 34-43. Web. 14 Nov 2010.
As a faithful follower and player of American Baseball, this topic was of extreme interest to me. The origins and history of a lifestyle that I have dedicated the overwhelming majority of my life to has always caught my attention. Baseball, being America’s national sport, is a crucial illustration to understand when discussing the overall societal circumstances at that time. One of baseball’s most important tasks was integrating the sport and allowing people of every ethnicity to have a chance to play the sport at an equal playing field. Although we now know that the efforts to desegregate baseball were ultimately a success, to what extent were the efforts a direct success during that time period? Did the unification of different ethnicities in America’s national sport have an effect on the amount of time desegregat...
Since the sport first emerged, baseball and America have shared the same values, responded to the same events, and struggled with the same social and economic issues. To learn of the ideals concerning the sport of baseball in America, is to know the heart and mind of America. Baseball developed before the Civil War but did not achieve professional status until the 1870s (The Baseball Glove, 2004). In 1871, the National Association of Professional Baseball Players was formed. Unfortunately, the organization ran into financial hardships and was abandoned in 1875.
Public Relations or (PR) is an important field that businesses and companies use to connect with their consumers. This involves maintain relationships with the public to promote the business as well as communication between the public and business. My interview dealt with the world of exercise fitness. I interviewed Ricky Gross who is a personal fitness trainer. He is the Owner/Operator of RJG Fitness LLC, which is a personal training company out of metropolitan Atlanta Georgia. His company provides personal fitness sessions, one on one, or group sessions in clients’ own personal homes or fitness clubs. I conducted the interview over Skype to get further information on how his company deals with public relations.
Public relations have been a prominent aspect of society for millennia, dating back to 50 B.C. with Julius Caesar and referred by the Ancient Greeks as “semantikos”, which is the practice of persuading people into a belief or action (Witman, 2000). Public relations is still been influenced by the contributions of key historical and contemporary figures including Benjamin Franklin and Ivy Lee.
Nemee, David. “100 Years of Major League Baseball.” Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications Infernational, Ltd, 200. Print.
Radio broadcasting was one development that kept “America’s Pastime” alive, and provided the sport with additional audience. During these rough times, many people could not afford tickets to baseball games, so listening to the radio was an option that was very appealing. Naturally, some baseball club owners claimed that putting games on the air was hurting attendance. However, evidence shows that the radio broadcasting caused more people to gain interest in the sport, causing more people to attend the sport. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals outlawed broadcasting during the 1934 season, and attendance levels decreased to 283,000 less than the 1931 championship season. The public clearly enjoyed the new radio broadcasting of games, and the media expressed their feelings. The Chicago Tribune released a fervent argu...
Baseball, Americas pastime and a beloved sport by many in today’s society, I choose to tackle this event because a sport that has lasted over 150 years demands to have a closer look into what made it a staple in society. Attending a Royals game is an event I try to do at least once a year because it’s a way to relax and have fun, that’s why I thought it would be perfect to cover for this project. When attending the game as an observer as opposed to being the participant, it changed my view of the game. I found myself thinking more analytically about why we as a culture choose to attend sporting events such as this. It also made me more aware of my surroundings commercialism as far as the eye could see, people in bright colored clothing bringing the food right to your seat as long as you had money for it of course. Through
This game of a stick and ball has captivated the United States during good and bad times. In either time most of us today can remember stories of players from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. These are legendary figures in the sport of baseball that have are celebrated as hero’s and in scandal, i...
Tygiel, Jules. 2001; 2000. Past time: Baseball as history. Oxford England; New York: Oxford University Press.
Unlike marketing of sports which consists of marketing before and after a particular event, marketing through sports consists of marketing or promoting a particular product at a sporting event or in conjunction with a sporting event. This includes, ...
Such communications is aimed at gaining the goodwill of the public (Public Relations, 1994). The basic of any effective public relations campaign is public benefit. If organizations do not serve the needs of the public, the public does not support it. Public relations expert helps organizations learn what the public needs and then establish policy that reverse worry for the public’s interest. Public relations generally practiced through (1) corporate public
Similar to advertising, public relations have an intense influence on the news we read, the products we buy, the public officials who are elected, and the laws that are passed (Rodman 2012, p. 329). A good example of this is the story of Henry Ford. In 1903, Henry Ford hired a famous racer, Barney Oldfield to drive a Ford car; this was a way for Ford’s name to appear on the front page of newspapers, a great advertising