It’s More Important Than The Score On The Playing Field
Arthur Solomon, Public Relations ConsultantSports play a unique role in America. It’s both the opioid of too many people but is also one of the most foremost defenders of our democracy since the election of President Trump.Who would have thought that athletes, among the most ego-centric and spoiled citizens in the U.S. (only surpassed by, maybe, politicians, TV pundits, PR crises specialists and in-laws) would be the segment of our society to speak out about the debasing of American values.Unfortunately, the moguls who run the sports business haven’t learned much from their athlete-employees. So, as usual, it’s the workers, both females and males, who have to fight for American values, like decent working conditions and speaking out on issues they believe in.On July 30, LeBron James, the National Basketball Association star, said he thinks President Trump is using athletics, and athletes, to divide the country. "What I've noticed over the past few months," James told CNN’s Don Lemon. "(Is) he's kinda used sports to kinda divide us, and that's something that I can't relate to.”Another NBA star, Stephen Curry said he wouldn’t go to the White House if invited, causing the president to rescind an invitation to the Golden State Warriors. Curry was backed up by his teammates and coach, Stephen Kerr.The first salvo of Trump’s war against athletes was when National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem as a protest of police brutality against African-Americans.Trump responded by saying at a rally, "wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag to say, 'get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's fired."Trump’s war against the NFL players, mostly African-Americans, still is on-going and likely will last until after the Super Bowl.Does Trump’s war on sports make sense? From a PR perspective it doesn’t. Every time he riles against peaceful athletes for kneeling during the national anthem it results in massive media coverage, not all positive. It’s as if he’s a believer in the old and disproven PR adage, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell my name correctly.” (As many of our clients – both corporate and individuals know – not all publicity is good publicity.)Will the president’s burn and slash PR strategy work? We won’t know until after the mid-term election. Until then, brace yourself for an on-going attack on players not standing for the national anthem from an uber-patriot president who used five deferments in an effort to not serve in the military.Thus far Major League Baseball has not been drawn into Trump’s sports and politics mixture, but stayed tuned. Many of baseball’s brightest stars are from Latin America, a frequent Trump target, and last year one American player did kneel toward the end of the season.
About the Author: Arthur Solomon, a former journalist, was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in some of the most significant national and international sports and non-sports programs. He also traveled internationally as a media adviser to high-ranking government officials. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations publications, consults on public relations projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at arthursolomon4pr(at)juno.com.
