Crisis Communication In The Nfl

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INTRODUCTION The National Football League (NFL) is a large professional American football sports corporation that consists of 32 teams. Throughout the past few years, the league has survived what some would call the worst crisis’ in history. They have had numerous, publicized discrepancies from domestic and child abuse allegations, deflating game balls, to players being convicted of murder.
Throughout the years the league has done a good job staying out of the spotlight. However, in September of 2014, when TMZ released a video of Baltimore Ravens player, Ray Rice, physically abusing his Fiancé in an elevator; It caused the NFL to publically address the issues and its policies pertaining to domestic violence and its players.
This Crisis Communication …show more content…
According to Jack Welch, you should always assume the crisis is bigger than originally reported and assuming the worst is being realistic. It is important that when faced with a crisis you move as fast as possible to address it using three steps – Understand, Acknowledge, and React.
When faced with the crisis the NFL, in September, denied that they had any knowledge of Ray Rice’s incident. However, it was reported that the NFL had received the tape for investigation in April before it surfaced to the media, which is the main cause for this to go from a situation to a crisis. There were no open lines of communication and it was almost as the NFL was trying to cover up the situation. The NFL denied their involvement and acknowledgement of the situation. Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, did not demonstrate candor until he had no choice to because it was something that was gaining national spotlight. When Goodell finally held a press conference and addressed the nation, he was not very honest in his approach and he tried to cover up the NFL’s involvement in the allegations as well as he did not have plan in place. Goodell understood the seriousness of the incident however he never acknowledged the leagues contribution to the …show more content…
As the leader of the NFL, Goodell should have addressed the stakeholders (in this case will be defined as all parties that have an interest in the league which are fans, players, coaches, and all public and private supporters) with a statement of intent. He should have held a press conference with the team owners, coaches, and all parties involved first to gather all the facts when the NFL originally received the initial complaint.
From that meeting he should have suspended Rice until a full investigation took place. Goodell, the teams owners, and coaches should have held a press conference addressing the media with the incident acknowledging their knowledge of it as well as their plans of action immediately. According to the National Coalition against Domestic Violence, It estimated that 1.3 women are victims of domestic abuse by an intimate partner every year, and just because the NFL players and personnel are in the spotlight as role-models and positive community organizers they should not be exempt from prosecution or repercussions. This situation caused the stakeholders to question the integrity of the NFL, the players and
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