by By Gabe Okmin
Throughout the past several decades, as television and media have intensified, so has criticism and suspicion of performance enhancing drugs in sports.
Lets focus in on a specific sport and era to get a sense of just how easily reputations can be tarnished.
Baseball in the early 2000’s is a prime example of how even the name’s of the game’s greatest players can be dragged through the mud, turned on by fans and even shunned by the same organizations that gave them a chance in the first place. There are three major case studies during this time period to learn from and see just how many people were impacted by these public relations nightmares.
- Jose Canseco — In 2005, Canseco published his tell-all book titled Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big. Not only did he admit to his own steroid use, but he name dropped several other former teammates who had also used performance enhancing drugs. Although this did end up being a bestseller, many of his former teammates were forced to testify in front of committees from the House. This created a brutal situation for his public relations team and family, who were always on the clock trying to find any ways they possibly could to uphold his image. It would take a toll. In the years following, Canseco was twice arrested for separate crimes and his house was even put into foreclosure. This is a true example of what a fall from fame and success can do.
- Barry Bonds — In 2003, Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson was indicted and charged for supplying anabolic steroids to athletes. Of course, Barry Bonds was immediately thrown into that conversation and his reputation has never been the same since. Once considered one of the greatest athletes of all time, his name is now synonymous with steroid use and is a decisive topic of conversation for baseball fans everywhere. The original public relations approach was for Bonds to say that he was given topical creams for arthritis as well as flax seed oil. It did not fix the issue at hand. Many people still don’t think Bonds deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
- Alex Rodriguez — After a Sports Illustrated survey for Major League Baseball players about drug use was approved by the Player’s Union and unexpectedly released, Alex Rodriguez was forced to admit to steroid use in 2009. The survey was supposed to be anonymous but it ended up getting leaked. Rodriguez employs a full PR team to this day, and unlike the other two examples, A-Rod has changed his image for the better. He is a commentator for ESPN and has even started his own Youtube channel.
One of the most important things to learn from in situations like these is how to correctly apologize or admit. Even though sports is a very live, unpredictable and play it by ear kind of business, there is still room for public relations preparation.
Transparency is perhaps the most important overarching theme. Information gets tangled and passed through a media game of telephone. It is beyond important for the person who is at the center of it all to remain honest and open with the fans and audience.
Genuine emotion is another aspect that is necessary for an apology or statement on these types of things. Nobody wants a monotoned, blank face apology. If it’s a big deal, make it seem like a big deal to you. Obviously nobody is asking for a dramatized account of the story, but put heart into it.
Finally, some kind of offering is important for the public. What are you going to give them? After all, they gave you their precious time to watch and support. Let them know how you are going to improve and what steps are being taken to get to a place where the same thing doesn’t happen twice.
Although we treat our top athletes like they aren’t human sometimes, it’s important to recognize the fact that PR crisis in sports are still a very human thing. As long as they are approached delicately with a sense of a genuine honesty and willingness to improve, the images of these stars are able to be maintained.
I really enjoyed this post Gabe! It is so interesting to think about the intersection of sports, crisis and PR. I really liked that you included the example of Alex Rodriguez as a positive example of impactful PR as it can often feel that crises like those involving high-profile athletes never come to good resolutions. I think it is especially interesting to realize that at the core of all crisis PR scenarios we always come back to authenticity and re-commitment to fans or stakeholders. It is so important to remember that within any industry in PR everyone is still human and connecting with your publics on simple human truths can result is really powerful work. Good job Gabe and thanks for this post!
I believe the biggest factor when it comes to weathering these PR nightmares is for the athlete to take accountability. A lot of the times, players don’t apologize because they genuinely feel bad — they apologize because they were caught. In the case of Barry Bonds, he denied it for several years, tarnishing his reputation even more to a point where he may never be inducted into the hall of fame. I like that you bring up that we don’t recognize these people as human who can make mistakes like us because they’re on our TVs every night. Keeping up the image of a star, with charities, brands, and organizations tied to their name, seems like a unique and difficult job. Great post!
I enjoyed reading this post, especially because last week I listened to a podcast where Jose Canseco’s daughter, Josie, shared her experience of growing up with a famous dad who the world hated for a period of time. She recalled that when going to a movie theatre with her father as a child, they were harassed and yelled at during the aftermath of the publishing of Canseco’s book. This points out that a bad public relations scandal can deeply affect a public figure’s life as well as their families. I think a large portion of the public feels many emotions about sports like Baseball, and may overlook the feelings of top players if they interfere with the success of a favorite team. I also think the examples you gave points out that being a public figure in any way gives someone little room for mistakes. I think today, with social media and cancel culture, famous people have to be near perfect to avoid a career ending move. I agree that the only way to deal with these things from a PR stand point is to be open and honest because being genuine will support a longer, healthier relationship with the public.
Hi Gabe,
I really enjoyed your analysis of this “cross roads,” so to speak, of PR crisis in sports. It is most important for the athlete to take responsibility for their actions and own up to the consequences instead of constantly backpedaling with poor excuse after poor excuse. It makes the athlete seem ignorant to the facts of the matter as well as undesirable to future marketers or employers due to their inability or want to change. If they own up to their actions and make every effort possible to move forward apologetically, they could one day end up being the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves like Alex Rodriguez.
Hi Gabe,
Loves reading this article. I agree with you 100% when you say “Transparency is perhaps the most important overarching theme. Information gets tangled and passed through a media game of telephone. It is beyond important for the person who is at the center of it all to remain honest and open with the fans and audience.” It is someone’s life that is on the line and reporting on a big PR release like this is extremely important. No one knows what’s at risk, what’s going on with the athlete, and how much a mistake can spiral.
Gabe,
I really enjoyed reading this post. It’s interesting to see how so many famous athletes have gotten to where they were in their careers through steroid use. Although it’s understandable that this is very disappointing to their fans, I agree with the point you made that we have to remember athletes are human. People make mistakes and it is important to not treat them drastically different just because they are famous. Overall, I agree with you that PR preparation in the sports world should be more prioritized to avoid situations like the examples you gave moving forward.
Gabe,
I thought this post was so interesting because growing up I remember steroids being such a big topic around baseball. I agree that transparency is very important and key when going to the media. If someone fails to be transparent, then like you said, their message will get distorted by the media because they will start to assume.
This was a very interesting post Gabe! I complete remember growing up the Berry Bonds and Jose Canseco steroid incidents. I was very young at the tome but remember seeing magazines and carnation sections of the two juicing up and being made fun of. This is a great case of PR going terribly in sports and how it has affecting these athletes to this day. Whenever I think of them I only think of the steroid use and I’m sure many others think the same.
Gabe,
Very interesting and controversial topic. I agree with you that this is a major issue still occurring in the sports world. Also, I believe the first step in the right direction is for these athletes to admit their wrong doings. I hope in the future people are willing to be forgiving, and athletes can make more ethical decisions.
Hello Gabe,
Performance enhancing drugs were always a little bit of an issue. We’ll never know 100% who’s taking them, and who is being paid to look the other way and allow steroid use. An interesting way around this was that situation in combat sports were athletes got prescriptions from doctors for “low testosterone”. So they took TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy) as a way to increase their damage threshold and put themselves ahead of the competition. It’s sneaky things such as this that will always be around in the sporting world.
Hello Gabe, I loved this pseudo-case study. The detail is great. But this reminds me that athletes should always have a PR representative present. In each of these athletes’ cases, I’m sure that if they had a PR agent review their decision to take steroids, they wouldn’t have taken steroids. Side note, it seems like Bonds is trending back towards good standing, the Giants retired his 25 number, and he works with a plethora of teams on the fundamentals of hitting. But at the end of the day, he still took performance-enhancing drugs.
Hey Gabe,
I think you brought up a great topic that’s very relevant today in sports. Many sports athletes get caught doping, but oftentimes blame it on something else. People lose lots of credibility for getting caught doping, but it’s even worse when they don’t tell the truth. People are always trying to get that extra edge, and if you get caught, you should own up to your mistake as an athlete.
I really liked this article. Athletes should always have some form of a PR rep to help when things get out of hands. I also think its important that athletes own up and apologize when they are caught or given bad publicity. The steroid era in baseball easily brought to attention the problems that were going through most sports at the time.