Monday, October 28, 2013

"No bowl ban for Miami Hurricanes"

From ESPN.com




Analysis by Alyssa Hough in SRM 334 (section 1)

Our media topic dealt with the NCAA finally making a decision on the University of Miami Nevin Shapero scandal. In November, 2009, Miami notified the NCAA about their investigation of one of their boosters, Nevin Shapero. They were investigating because he was throwing parties for athletes, taking them to strip clubs, buying them several things including food, clothes, and hotels for family and girlfriends, and other things. The media released information about this investigation once it came out in 2009, but very little information was disseminated after that until now. This is because the NCAA has finally made a decision as to what the punishment will be for the University of Miami. 

The NCAA decided to not ban the Miami Hurricanes from any bowl games, but has decided to take away some scholarships for football and basketball. They are taking away three scholarships from football and one from basketball each year for the next three years. This will total to nine scholarships lost in the football program and three in basketball. The NCAA weighed heavily the fact that The University of Miami decided to self-impose penalties while the investigation was going on when making their final decision. Miami put a two year bowl ban on themselves, and limited the number of scholarships they were giving out while this situation was being investigated.

It was interesting how the media released information about the case when it first came out in 2009, but then it faded away until now when the NCAA finally made a decision. I think the media stayed out of the issue because The University of Miami did a great job with their crisis management plan, and took control of the situation from the beginning. They self-imposed what could seem to be harsh punishments on themselves during the investigation to show how they are taking this seriously. There has been a lot of negative talk on social media sites like twitter saying that they think the NCAA let Miami off too easily for what they did. Schools like USC are making their disapproval with the decision known because they were hit hard with punishments from the NCAA in 2010. One thing that happened to USC is that they had 30 scholarships taken away from them while Miami only lost a total of 12. There has been a lot of talk about how the NCAA slapped Miami on the wrist and did not decide on a harsh enough punishment. However, the NCAA defends their decision by stating that they took into consideration their compliance and self-imposed punishments during the investigation.

Like we learned in class, you have to have a good crisis management plan in place because you never know when something unexpected is going to come about. Miami did a great job in managing this scandal, and because of that was rewarded with a lighter punishment from the NCAA. I think this will be something that other schools start to implement into their crisis management plan because it makes the school look good for owning what happened and dealing with it immediately. Even on Miami's website they have a link labeled NCAA Investigation. Under this link you can stay up to date with the investigation and the process of it. By including that on their site I believe they used the media to their benefit. Miami did a great job making sure they controlled the situation so the media could not bury the school in the scandal.

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Analysis by Ben Eidle in SRM 334 (section 1)

Nevin Shapiro is a former booster of the University of Miami. He is no longer a booster because he was violating NCAA rules by providing special benefits to athletes in multiple sports. Shapiro gave athletes access to his yacht and he also paid for certain things that athletes wanted. The investigation by the NCAA began in 2009 and all of a sudden the case resurfaced this past week when the NCAA released their punishment for the University.

This case has a lot to do with crisis management and how it was handled by the University of Miami. The reason for this is because during the investigation stage the story was not talked about much on many media sources compared to other scandals at other similar institutions. There are many reasons that the media could have been ignoring this story that was going on for over two years.

The first thing that I can think of for the media talking about the story for a short period of time is because these types of cases come out about schools a decent amount of time. Improper benefits are given out at schools and they end up being caught. Even though this case was an extreme of improper benefits because they were given out over an eight year period they were still the benefits which may have caused the media not to care.

The next thing that I believe kept the media away from this story is because of the way the university handled the situation internally. The university properly reported what had occurred to the NCAA and continued with their own investigation into the subject matter. They then quickly placed self-imposed sanctions on themselves. These sanctions they put on themselves were unique because they were the harshest self-imposed sanctions a school has given to date. With the postseason bans for football and the reduction of scholarships the media reported this and then it died. I believe this occurred because I feel like the media had the idea that the sanctions were so significant that they did not feel a lot more was going to happen. The crisis management team made proper choices when dealing with the sanctions but they also made sure that they were saying the proper things when necessary. The university was making sure that they were keeping the public updated on what was going on with the case. This takes away from the necessity of the media because if a story is being reported from the main source then it is unnecessary to have the media report on it.

Another thought about the sanctions that the NCAA handed out has to do with the media as well. Usually when a story is being followed a person notices that the penalties are very large. The media was not covering this story as much as others have been. Even though this may not be true the NCAA may be influence by the media because the attention each individual case is given. For example, when USC was receiving their sanctions from the NCAA for the Reggie Bush problem they were being covered all of the time. The sanctions for USC turned out to be some of the worst sanctions given out to a school. The NCAA may have seen that this case was being covered heavily and that may have pressured them into showing everybody they are a strong governing body and over penalized the school. Since Miami was not being covered as much there was no pressure in giving out sanctions that were very large.

Since the NCAA released their sanctions the media has been debating whether or not that the penalties given out were bad enough. This hot topic is important because there are schools that have done less and received more. Also, there are people that believe because Miami put such strict sanctions on their own the NCAA lightened up on the penalties that they were going to give. The debate with the media has grown tremendously since it was first discussed. It has been a topic on social media recently with many different people voicing their opinions from newspaper columnists to fans. All of this shows how powerful the media can be when presenting certain topics.

"England manager Roy Hodgson apologizes for monkey joke"

From Sports Illustrated




Analysis by Alexandra Sullivan in SRM 334 (section 2)

On Thursday October 17th CNN Sports Illustrated posted an article about England’s soccer team manager Roy Hodgson. England played Poland on Tuesday October 15th, which was a big game because the winner would advance to the World Cup. England ended up winning 2-0 against Poland. The article focuses on a greater issue rather than writing about England celebrating the win to advance to the world cup. During half time, Roy Hodgson compared player Andros Townsend to a space monkey. Hodgson meant the comparison as a compliment and did not think about a monkey being a racial slur. The media blew this story out of proportion because Townsend is half black, which means a monkey comment towards him could be taken offensively. Hodgson realized what he had said and apologized to Townsend, the team, and the FA (Football Association). Townsend and other teammates took to twitter to defend Hodgson. Townsend assured the FA and Hodgson that he did not take any offense to the monkey comment, he understood the point the coach was trying to make. Hodgson used the space monkey joke as a generation joke. Space monkeys were used by NASA in the 1960s and 70s and the monkeys were known to be intelligent animals that contributed to success in space flights. Townsend knew Hodgson used this comparison as a good thing. Anti-racism group Kick It Out and anti-discrimination group FARE are demanding an investigation to the story. These groups wanted to publicize this comment to make people aware that the words they are use can be taken offensively. Kick It Out and FARE took to twitter to comment about this story. These groups tweeted that Hodgson knew what he was saying and needs to be aware that he is in a diverse environment and should not be using those kinds of words. The chairman of the FA is backing up Hodgson saying he is an honorable man who is doing a great job coaching the England soccer team. The FA and team stand by Hodgson.

Hodgson is bringing in negative media attention to the team in a time of happiness and celebration. If it were not for social media this story would not have gotten as much attention as it is getting. Now-a-days people are able to freely express their thoughts for everyone to see. Kick It Out and FARE are able to reach more people through social media and get their thoughts to the public faster. Stories spread like wild fire on social media. It is easy for people to share stories to one another and give their opinions. In this case social media blew up the story more than it should have because Hodgson immediately apologizes and no one took offense to the comment. Even with no offense taken from the players, some people still had a problem with the words used and expressed their thoughts through the use of twitter.
This issue is relevant to SRM 334 because it proves that everyone contributes to news stories. People can use blogs, facebook, twitter, and other social media outlets to quickly get information out or get their word out. Not everyone has to be a certified journalist or news reporter to get a story out into the public. It is easier for people to stay updated on breaking stories or access information on an issue through the use of social media. Twitter was used positively and negatively in this article. Townsend and teammates were able to assure the public that they still support their coach and this comment was an innocent mistake. On the other hand Kick It Out and FARE were able to use twitter to inform people that comments like that are not acceptable and people need to be aware of their surrounding and the words they use. 

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Analysis by Samantha Mitchell in SRM 334 (section 2)

On October 16th 2013, Manager Roy Hodgson apologized for making a monkey joke during halftime of the England vs. Poland match, the day prior. Someone from Hodgson’s team leaked information to The Sun newspaper, that during halftime he made a joke about space monkeys in the England Locker room as he was trying to explain to his players that they needed to pass the ball to Andros Townsend. Townsend is African American and the word “monkey” has been used in the past in racial context. 

The monkey joke that Hodgson used was referring to space monkeys that NASA sent into space in the 1960s and 70s. In the statement that Hodgson released Wednesday night, he mentioned that he did not mean the comment in an inappropriate way and made that clear to Andros as soon as it happened. He talked with Andros again the next day to make sure Andros understood the way he meant the comment. Andros understood what he really meant with the comment and assured Hodgson and the Football Association that he took no offense to it.

Andros and many other England players took to twitter to defend Hodgson. None of the players thought it was meant in a racist way and think it is ridiculous that it is being reported on. Greg Dyke, the Football Association chairman, also defended and supported Hodgson. However Kick It Out, an anti-racism organization, does not want a similar situation to happen again, so they are demanding an investigation. Piara Power, the executive director of FARE an anti-discrimination organization, also took to twitter mentioning that Hodgson should have known better and it was silly of him to use that term.

If this information had not been leaked to the media and then published, this situation could have been completely avoided. The media took this and ran with it. Not a single player was offended by the comment made and Hodgson did not mean it to be offensive in any way. He explains in this article that it is more of a generational joke. So therefore, anyone who knows of the monkey joke that took place in the 1960-70’s would be able to realize what he truly meant with this comment.

When the media publishes something that should have never been published, people are going to get frustrated and turn to social media to take out their opinions. This is exactly what happened in this situation. Twitter became an outlet for players and other people to comment on this issue. This information being leaked to the media and then published on the front page of The Sun newspaper also took away from the fact that England qualified for the World Cup by beating Poland. Instead of shedding positive light on the England team, the media is shed negative light on Hodgson, which took away from this great achievement.
This article is very relevant to this course because this course is about sports media. This article is covering sports and it has to do with the media making this situation a much bigger issue than it should have been. The media is known to take negative issues and report on them because of the drama it creates. The media has certainly done this with this particular incident and it has not given the proper credit to a team that deserves huge recognition.

Friday, October 25, 2013

"Twitter Strikes Deal With NFL"

From the Wall Street Journal


Analysis by Allison Straley in SRM 435 (section 2)

The article “Twitter Strikes Deal With NFL” is an overview on the new relationship that has formed between Twitter and the NFL. This deal allows the NFL to tweet out news, analysis of games and players, as well as in-game highlights from the games on Thursday night and Sundays from the NFL Network as well as other programs such as CBS and Fox.

Adding the NFL highlights to Twitter is part of Twitter’s Amplify program. This is a revenue-generating program that lets organizations, such as the NFL, sponsor tweets that come up in users’ Twitter feeds. In every clip that the NFL puts out, there is a short ad embedded before the clip starts. The revenue generated from these ads is split between both companies.
Coming from a marketing and promotion standpoint, I feel that there are positives and negatives to this new relationship. The main positive being that the NFL and Twitter both have such a huge following that what they are trying to accomplish will occur. With these tweets being ‘officially sponsored’ they automatically come up in a users’ Twitter feed so they are easily accessible during the game to see these highlights. However, and here is when the negatives arise, if for some reason a user is not going through Twitter during a game, when they go to check the next day they may have to scroll through multiple tweets before finding the clips. Being in a fast-paced society where consumers want things the quickest way possible, they might give up on finding the clips when they can possibly just YouTube them; especially having the ads play before. 

This deal is relevant to the course because promotion is a main component of the marketing mix. Within promotion itself there are also components, two being publicity and licensing. These mixes are the basis of marketing and without them marketing would not exist. The NFL is using the licensing from Twitter to promote their in-game highlights on users’ feeds and they are giving these companies the publicity by playing the short ads before the clips to help generate revenue. 

The President of Twitter’s Global Revenue, Adam Bain said, “putting the NFL's "highly coveted content" on Twitter "will not only offer our users a unique programming schedule which will deepen their engagement with our platform but will also provide our sponsors with a value proposition that few other partners can bring to the table” (Sharma, 2013). 
This deal is one that other major programs should consider looking into. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get information across, and with Twitter having millions of followers the NFL’s new platform is definitely going to take off.


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Analysis by Katherine Lampa in SRM 435 (section 2)


In our article “Twitter Strikes Deal With NFL”, the specifics of the deal between the two companies are discussed. It will be a twenty-four- seven service as the NFL plans to have a team “dedicated to producing programming for Twitter users seven days a week”(Sharma, 2013). Games that are aired on the NFL Network will be featured on Twitter during the game, while other highlights from other networks will come later. Every video tweeted will have a short advertisement before the start of the video and the NFL and whichever company is producing the ad will share the revenue. Verizon will be a main sponsor throughout the entire season including the Super Bowl as they will be the “exclusive Twitter advertiser”. They will be paying one billion dollars over the next four years to expand their “rights to air NFL games on cellphones through an NFL Mobile app”(Sharma, 2013). During Monday Night Football the NFL will be the only account tweeting out highlights as ESPN has not been awarded those rights. 

The usage of Twitter will help actually get the ads in the face of consumers because they are short and you cannot skip by them like you may be able to do on television. Twitter has billions of users that are checking in all day every day so promoting the relationship between the NFL and Twitter will not be a problem. I think the deal creates great opportunities for both parties as Twitter continues to grow as the most widely used social media network and the NFL continues to dominate the sports world. As more people find out that clips are in- game highlights I think that more people will join Twitter to consequently follow the NFL. Marketing will pretty much take care of itself because Twitter is so easy to use. Twitter makes for a great promotions platform for the NFL because so many people can view these clips from all over the world. The publicity both the NFL and Twitter are going to get from this deal is going to be huge as they will promote each other constantly.


This relates to our class in a few ways, but mostly because it is a perfect example of social media taking over the sports world as a main promoter. While there is no person to person contact to reinforce the advertisements general users can still communicate with people in charge much easier than ever before. The use of Twitter to promote sports creates many more opportunities for great customer relations and community relations as fans can come together over Twitter. Overall, I am surprised it took this long for the two to sign an official deal and it will be interesting to see how it plays out and how popular it becomes.