Picture obtained from ESPN's Lebron James profile site
I talked with my friends about that many times since then. I thought LeBron James was a scapegoat.
ESPN and NBA could garner national attention, because of LeBron saga.
I, who haven’t watched NBA since Michael Jordan retired, even followed NBA on ESPN.
I even watched some games this season.
But, what about LeBron?
What did he get? Every player moves. Many teenagers have, kind of, a dream that they would leave their hometown once they graduate from a high school if things are allowed. LeBron hasn’t done it until this year.
And, LeBron did it in front of millions of eyes on ESPN. It was like a betrayer show.
Everyone can do it, but, LeBron did it on a show put by ESPN and NBA.
Well, yes, he got what he wanted to get.
Really?
My worry is coming true. The only way LeBron could avoid being a scapegoat was to win often and win lots of championships.
I don’t think Miami (8-7), though, is a big contender this season. It is still very early in the season, but, I don’t know if Miami Heat shows the same power that Boston Celtics showed after K.G. arrived at Boston in 2007.
Miami may bounce back and win the championship someday, maybe this year. But, can LeBron be happy with the decision he made at his age of 25?
He could’ve been a legend. Well, he may eventually become a legend when he retires with three or four championship rings with Miami.
But, did he really need to announce his leaving his hometown on the promotional show made by ESPN and NBA?
At this point, I just can’t change my original feeling about LeBron James, the scapegoat.
I now would like to approach fantasy sports study using public relations perspective.
I am interested in many publics of sports organizations and one of them is a fan.
My friend, Dr. Nick Bowman, proposed some interesting model for fantasy sports here.
It is overall very interesting. It looks like a fantasy sports version of disposition theory.
And, it is a good sign that there are more people who now study fantasy sports.
My colleague, Dr. Hill and I figured out there were not many studies done out there, even though
Now an estimated 27 million American adults play fantasy sports, translating to annual revenue between $800 million and $1 billion, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, an industry organization that represents more than 110 companies. About 85 percent of gamers play fantasy football, and 40 percent participate in fantasy baseball. The average player is male, between the ages of 18 and 49 and boasts above-average income and education levels – in other words, a marketer’s dream. (Ankeny, 2009)
Our paper was accepted by Journal of Sports Media last summer and will be published during next year. We interviewed fantasy sports leaders and asked them what kind of communication research they would like to see in the near future. One of them was about fantasy sports users.
My next study will use expectation questionnaires I used for my dissertation study. My hope is that I can develop index for sports media expectancy.
I think my colleague and I just finished our first step. Nick made a big jump on it. And, I hope to be able to add one more leap there with my study.
It is good to see I have many colleagues who have similar interest with me. It’s boring world of scholar, probably, but, it’s really fun, fun, fun. I love it.
Have you seen Lionel Messi highlight? If you haven’t. Watch this youtube clip.
Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, David Villa, Andres Iniesta. If you followed soccer a little bit, you have heard of those names. They are all Spanish national team members and Andres Iniesta was MVP of 2010 FIFA world cup final against Netherland. And, they are all FC Barcelona.
Spanish National Team squad from FC Barcelona. Picture obtained from FC Barcelona website
Not impressive yet? Barcelona just won it all in 2009. They just won every possible competition in club soccer. They won Spanish league (La Liga), Copa Del Ray, Super Copa de Espana, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and 2009 Fifa Club World Cup. Well, I really cannot compare this with any other sports in the U.S. This team may be the combination of New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox or Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys, or even Boston Celtics plus Miami Heats.
And, as usual, those big soccer teams are getting some money with world tour before the regular season begins. Manchester United came to the U.S. this year and had game with Major League Soccer All Star. FC Barcelona also visited South Korea and they are now in China.
And, of course, because it is right after the World Cup, none of the players in the picture above is with FC Barcelona’s world tour. Of course, in Major League Soccer All Star game, we could not see Evra, Rooney, Ferdinand, and Ji Sung Park, the star players of Manchester United. Their games are event and a part of fan service or publicity. These are the missions of big club soccer teams to let more people in the world know the game of soccer. And, it is understandable why they do not bring their best players. And, they could accomplish their mission without those star players. Manchester United squad without their best players beat MLS all-star team easily with the score of 5-2.
South Korean people seemed like they did not understand this marketing principle when FC Barcelona visited Korea to do some PR for the team. However, it is understandable, if we look at this incident little bit more closer. Of course, FC Barcelona might want to be the most popular soccer club in Korea with this tour, because the most popular soccer club in Korea is now Manchester United, because they have a Korean national team captain Ji Sung Park. So, FC Barcelona brought their back up players plus Lionel Messi, who played 15 minutes in the game against the K(orean)-League all-star team. Of course, they easily beat the K-League team, which made a team few days before the game, so barely knew whom they had to pass, if I exaggerate a little bit.
John Duerden, my beloved soccer columnist, who also writes in Korea, explained about this match and all the mess in this ESPN article.
OK. I know I am a Korean, but, I don’t want to be too patriotic. If any of you can read in Korean, check this blog entry in Korean. I, actually, blamed K-league officials and the sports marketing company, who managed this whole event. I truly think they had to be more careful, when they prepared this event. It was a poor PR decision for them. I even called FC Barcelona as a victim.
But, I truly think FC Barcelona could handle this issue much better and nicer.
I, once, studied about NFL’s effort to spread American football to the world. And, this study is published for the next year’s special issue of Journal of Communication Studies. NFL began World League of American Football (WLAF) in 1991, changed league to NFL Europe and managed it until 2007. They got some attentions from Europeans, introduced American football there, so, now, after ceasing the league in 2007, they have one NFL game in London every year, and it always easily fill the stadium . But, NFL still had to spend $400 million for 16 years.
My major finding for this study was that NFL was too proud of themselves to think about European culture. They just thought Europeans would love the league, even though they sent their minor league players. NLF officials proudly said WLAF was a “developmental league” and they wanted to make some money out of the league. It was a total mess, since Europeans did not care about the league after few games and players did not like the idea after all. Players even sued the NFL with anti-trust law suit, because NFL sent them to Europe promising bringing them back to NFL and did not keep the promise. First WLAF championship game was not played in the stadium of “best-record” team, London Monarch, because of regular British Premier League game in the same stadium. In 2007, NFL officials finally realized they had to stop the league, because not any single NFL Europe game was broadcasted live, even the NFL Europe Championship game. This was a misunderstanding of different culture and, finally, NFL’s international relations director, Mike Waller, who was born in Kenya, said, “they want to see the best product, not a minor league.” OK. Again, NFL spent $400 million and 16 years.
This kind of things happen a lot today, in International business world. Google was criticized a lot after they left China and tried to correct human right issue in China by themselves. Microsoft had a lot of troubles in Europe with a monopoly issue and now they are cooperating European Union.
This is an International PR issue and I always emphasize that understanding (not tolerating) differences make international PR successful. I really think FC Barcelona could handle this much better with their understanding of Korean culture. Korea is under the Confucius culture, which emphasizes the role of hierarchy. Korea is not a hierarchical culture any more, but, it still remains. If you want to do a business with Korean people, you must understand their hierarchical mentality. Koreans say you need to treat parents and teachers like a King. In the business world, if you want to make a deal successfully with Korean company, you should send your senior executives to the negotiation. And, they usually send their senior executives to the negotiation, too. This is International public relations. When U.S. soldiers accidentally killed two Korean middle school girls, if president Bush directly apologized Korean people and expressed consolation, there might not be a huge protest against the U.S. embassy in Korea. This CBS news article talks about Bush’s apology. Well, actually, president did not apologize, forma Ambassador Thomas Hubbard did. If the U.S. government tried to understand Korean culture and just president Bush simply expressed consolation to Korean people directly, this issues should have been resolved faster and better.
FC Barcelona had a same mentality when they came to Korea. This is one little example of those from John Duerden’s ESPN article:
There was no talking at the airport and while Lionel Messi and Dani Alves were obviously tired at the first press conference the day after, they seemed to neither know nor care where they were. Dani Alves said that “Brazil played against Korea in the World Cup. They were a very good team”. Messi, who actually did play against South Korea in South Africa, replied when asked for his first impressions of the country: “I didn’t see much. I don’t know where I am and what time it is. I’m too tired.”
Well, yes, they are players, and may not know how to handle media, or, they are just too much of Super Star. Then, how about the head coach?
If you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression there are always ample opportunities to make things worse. In the official pre-match press conference held the following day, coach Pep Guardiola told reporters that Messi would not feature in the match. The reaction around the room was audible. Lee Jun-ha, the general secretary of the K-League, shook his head, laughed and quickly left the room.
Ok. Then, who are the victims in this case? FC Barcelona lost their potential fans in Korea. I followed Korean media and many fans said, they would cheer for Real Madrid, the archrival of FC Barcelona. Well, FC Barcelona deserves it. But, how about the head coach and how about the players? Because of poor PR, they were embarrassed and they were blamed by Korean media. FC Barcelona players were playing in Norway before coming to South Korea, then, after the game, they left to China for the next match against Guoan team in four days. FC Barcelona made $3 million for the game against K-League all-star. And, players were just goods and products to earn the money. According to one Korean news media, Lionel Messi expressed the regret that he could not have more time in Korea after he had to fly quite distance. And, many players looked tired and sleepy because of jet lag. Well, it is understandable that players are professional and need to overcome those things, but, they really cannot know what to expect from Korean fans, if no one let them know.
FC Barcelona also lost $300,000, because Messi did not play more than 30 minutes, which was indicated in the original contract between FC Barcelona and K-League. FC Barcelona also had to apologize Korean fans and say that they would return some money they earned for the match. Good PR saves money for the organization. And, this is the exact example of bad PR.
If they understood Korean culture and people, if they made players look good in the press conference, if they apologized first before just saying that “Lionel Messi will not play, ” could they solve the problem? Well, they might not solve a problem completely, because they, anyway, could not let their best players play. FC Barcelona announced to (not communicated with) Korean people, they would not bring players who played for the Spanish World Cup team. The first thing they had to do was explaining the situation, why they could not bring their best players. If they did, at least, their players,who played in the match and, actually, were good enough to beat the K-League All Star team 5 to 2, might not be criticized. Their players might not have to play in front of 30,000 people, which was less than half capacity of the stadium. Their poor head coach Guardiola, also,night not have to apologize and said they respected Korean fans, so let Lionel Messi play for 15 minutes, which made the head coach as well as FC Barcelona look more arrogant. And, it, ultimately, made a story on ESPN by John Duerden, who is British, but, writes for Korean media. And, I am now writing this blog and tweet it to my 300 followers and facebook to my 100 friends.
So, if FC Barcelona took care of their PR little bit more, everything should turn to the opposite direction. And, simply their PR did not do their role, FC Barcelona lost potential fans as well as their good reputation and players reputation in Korea and potentially in the World.
I do not think, though, this would influence FC Barcelona right away. However, it is true that FC Barcelona did not know public relations in the international setting, and, if they do not change this mentality, they will never earn the world reputation Manchester United has now. Well, at least, I won’t cheer for FC Barcelona for a while, because FC Barcelona is,in my mind, an arrogant company, which does not know PR. Go Real Madrid!!
Real Madrid team photo. Picture obtained from Real Madrid official website.
Have you seen Lionel Messi highlight? If you haven’t. Watch this youtube clip.
Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, David Villa, Andres Iniesta. If you followed soccer a little bit, you have heard of those names. They are all Spanish national team members and Andres Iniesta was MVP of 2010 FIFA world cup final against Netherland. And, they are all FC Barcelona.
Spanish National Team squad from FC Barcelona. Picture obtained from FC Barcelona website
Not impressive yet? Barcelona just won it all in 2009. They just won every possible competition in club soccer. They won Spanish league (La Liga), Copa Del Ray, Super Copa de Espana, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and 2009 Fifa Club World Cup. Well, I really cannot compare this with any other sports in the U.S. This team may be the combination of New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox or Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys, or even Boston Celtics plus Miami Heats.
And, as usual, those big soccer teams are getting some money with world tour before the regular season begins. Manchester United came to the U.S. this year and had game with Major League Soccer All Star. FC Barcelona also visited South Korea and they are now in China.
And, of course, because it is right after the World Cup, none of the players in the picture above is with FC Barcelona’s world tour. Of course, in Major League Soccer All Star game, we could not see Evra, Rooney, Ferdinand, and Ji Sung Park, the star players of Manchester United. Their games are event and a part of fan service or publicity. These are the missions of big club soccer teams to let more people in the world know the game of soccer. And, it is understandable why they do not bring their best players. And, they could accomplish their mission without those star players. Manchester United squad without their best players beat MLS all-star team easily with the score of 5-2.
South Korean people seemed like they did not understand this marketing principle when FC Barcelona visited Korea to do some PR for the team. However, it is understandable, if we look at this incident little bit more closer. Of course, FC Barcelona might want to be the most popular soccer club in Korea with this tour, because the most popular soccer club in Korea is now Manchester United, because they have a Korean national team captain Ji Sung Park. So, FC Barcelona brought their back up players plus Lionel Messi, who played 15 minutes in the game against the K(orean)-League all-star team. Of course, they easily beat the K-League team, which made a team few days before the game, so barely knew whom they had to pass, if I exaggerate a little bit.
John Duerden, my beloved soccer columnist, who also writes in Korea, explained about this match and all the mess in this ESPN article.
OK. I know I am a Korean, but, I don’t want to be too patriotic. If any of you can read in Korean, check this blog entry in Korean. I, actually, blamed K-league officials and the sports marketing company, who managed this whole event. I truly think they had to be more careful, when they prepared this event. It was a poor PR decision for them. I even called FC Barcelona as a victim.
But, I truly think FC Barcelona could handle this issue much better and nicer.
I, once, studied about NFL’s effort to spread American football to the world. And, this study is published for the next year’s special issue of Journal of Communication Studies. NFL began World League of American Football (WLAF) in 1991, changed league to NFL Europe and managed it until 2007. They got some attentions from Europeans, introduced American football there, so, now, after ceasing the league in 2007, they have one NFL game in London every year, and it always easily fill the stadium . But, NFL still had to spend $400 million for 16 years.
My major finding for this study was that NFL was too proud of themselves to think about European culture. They just thought Europeans would love the league, even though they sent their minor league players. NLF officials proudly said WLAF was a “developmental league” and they wanted to make some money out of the league. It was a total mess, since Europeans did not care about the league after few games and players did not like the idea after all. Players even sued the NFL with anti-trust law suit, because NFL sent them to Europe promising bringing them back to NFL and did not keep the promise. First WLAF championship game was not played in the stadium of “best-record” team, London Monarch, because of regular British Premier League game in the same stadium. In 2007, NFL officials finally realized they had to stop the league, because not any single NFL Europe game was broadcasted live, even the NFL Europe Championship game. This was a misunderstanding of different culture and, finally, NFL’s international relations director, Mike Waller, who was born in Kenya, said, “they want to see the best product, not a minor league.” OK. Again, NFL spent $400 million and 16 years.
This kind of things happen a lot today, in International business world. Google was criticized a lot after they left China and tried to correct human right issue in China by themselves. Microsoft had a lot of troubles in Europe with a monopoly issue and now they are cooperating European Union.
This is an International PR issue and I always emphasize that understanding (not tolerating) differences make international PR successful. I really think FC Barcelona could handle this much better with their understanding of Korean culture. Korea is under the Confucius culture, which emphasizes the role of hierarchy. Korea is not a hierarchical culture any more, but, it still remains. If you want to do a business with Korean people, you must understand their hierarchical mentality. Koreans say you need to treat parents and teachers like a King. In the business world, if you want to make a deal successfully with Korean company, you should send your senior executives to the negotiation. And, they usually send their senior executives to the negotiation, too. This is International public relations. When U.S. soldiers accidentally killed two Korean middle school girls, if president Bush directly apologized Korean people and expressed consolation, there might not be a huge protest against the U.S. embassy in Korea. This CBS news article talks about Bush’s apology. Well, actually, president did not apologize, forma Ambassador Thomas Hubbard did. If the U.S. government tried to understand Korean culture and just president Bush simply expressed consolation to Korean people directly, this issues should have been resolved faster and better.
FC Barcelona had a same mentality when they came to Korea. This is one little example of those from John Duerden’s ESPN article:
There was no talking at the airport and while Lionel Messi and Dani Alves were obviously tired at the first press conference the day after, they seemed to neither know nor care where they were. Dani Alves said that “Brazil played against Korea in the World Cup. They were a very good team”. Messi, who actually did play against South Korea in South Africa, replied when asked for his first impressions of the country: “I didn’t see much. I don’t know where I am and what time it is. I’m too tired.”
Well, yes, they are players, and may not know how to handle media, or, they are just too much of Super Star. Then, how about the head coach?
If you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression there are always ample opportunities to make things worse. In the official pre-match press conference held the following day, coach Pep Guardiola told reporters that Messi would not feature in the match. The reaction around the room was audible. Lee Jun-ha, the general secretary of the K-League, shook his head, laughed and quickly left the room.
Ok. Then, who are the victims in this case? FC Barcelona lost their potential fans in Korea. I followed Korean media and many fans said, they would cheer for Real Madrid, the archrival of FC Barcelona. Well, FC Barcelona deserves it. But, how about the head coach and how about the players? Because of poor PR, they were embarrassed and they were blamed by Korean media. FC Barcelona players were playing in Norway before coming to South Korea, then, after the game, they left to China for the next match against Guoan team in four days. FC Barcelona made $3 million for the game against K-League all-star. And, players were just goods and products to earn the money. According to one Korean news media, Lionel Messi expressed the regret that he could not have more time in Korea after he had to fly quite distance. And, many players looked tired and sleepy because of jet lag. Well, it is understandable that players are professional and need to overcome those things, but, they really cannot know what to expect from Korean fans, if no one let them know.
FC Barcelona also lost $300,000, because Messi did not play more than 30 minutes, which was indicated in the original contract between FC Barcelona and K-League. FC Barcelona also had to apologize Korean fans and say that they would return some money they earned for the match. Good PR saves money for the organization. And, this is the exact example of bad PR.
If they understood Korean culture and people, if they made players look good in the press conference, if they apologized first before just saying that “Lionel Messi will not play, ” could they solve the problem? Well, they might not solve a problem completely, because they, anyway, could not let their best players play. FC Barcelona announced to (not communicated with) Korean people, they would not bring players who played for the Spanish World Cup team. The first thing they had to do was explaining the situation, why they could not bring their best players. If they did, at least, their players,who played in the match and, actually, were good enough to beat the K-League All Star team 5 to 2, might not be criticized. Their players might not have to play in front of 30,000 people, which was less than half capacity of the stadium. Their poor head coach Guardiola, also,night not have to apologize and said they respected Korean fans, so let Lionel Messi play for 15 minutes, which made the head coach as well as FC Barcelona look more arrogant. And, it, ultimately, made a story on ESPN by John Duerden, who is British, but, writes for Korean media. And, I am now writing this blog and tweet it to my 300 followers and facebook to my 100 friends.
So, if FC Barcelona took care of their PR little bit more, everything should turn to the opposite direction. And, simply their PR did not do their role, FC Barcelona lost potential fans as well as their good reputation and players reputation in Korea and potentially in the World.
I do not think, though, this would influence FC Barcelona right away. However, it is true that FC Barcelona did not know public relations in the international setting, and, if they do not change this mentality, they will never earn the world reputation Manchester United has now. Well, at least, I won’t cheer for FC Barcelona for a while, because FC Barcelona is,in my mind, an arrogant company, which does not know PR. Go Real Madrid!!
Real Madrid team photo. Picture obtained from Real Madrid official website.
Ok. I admit it. I’m biased. I love Alabama football and I love Nick Saban.
I know many people hate Nick Saban. I know, the other day, ESPN SportsNation said Nick Saban was a liar, after he made a “pimp” speech. I know my best friend from Texas hates Nick Saban, so he really hates to see Nick Saban’s first game ticket displayed in my office. But, I love him.
When I went to Alabama for my doctoral program, Alabama just finished 10-2 season and I was excited to see Coach Shula’s pictures everywhere. It was my first big school, which had a big athletic program. But, I, soon, heard about the probation Alabama got from NCAA, observed 6-7 season and firing Coach Shula. Then, ESPN started talking no one wanted to come to Alabama.
Well, in social identity theory, people usually try to find their “in-group” identity more badly, when their “in-group” identity is threatened by others. I felt the same. Actually, that time really got me into the situation that I was becoming a die-hard Alabama fanatic. Then, Nick Saban came and he changed whole community. He immediately pulled bad weeds out from the team and brought players who committed to play. He was in a total-control of whole football program, which was almost everything of Alabama athletic program as well as whole community.
Then, Alabama started winning games from 2008 season and still haven’t lost a single regular season game since then. If you lived in Alabama in that kind of time, how can you not love Nick Saban? For me, I will never blame him, whatever he did before he came to Alabama, unless he is caught for unethical decisions, such as cheating, sexual assault, or something similar to those.
Especially, when I read this article on Al.com (by Jeff Sentell) this morning, I really thought, Nick Saban knows Public Relations, which is one of the biggest reasons I like him.
Saban wanted the coaches listening to him to focus on helping their own players be successful.
“Maybe the participation in all athletics is not what it used to be,” Saban said.
“But I think it has tremendous value. So if they can engage and inspire and influence young people to develop better habits by participating, that would be the one thing I would want everyone to get out of this.”
Well, many people, including Colin Cowherd on SportsNation (ESPN), think Nick Saban is a liar, because he pretends to protect his players. When I heard that, even though Colin Cowherd might not directly mean it, I felt I was blamed. I am a professor. I am paid by University. I try to protect my students. I think about their career, BECAUSE I am getting paid to do that? Part of that, it is true. But, I totally agreed when Nick Saban talked about the agent issue. I could see what he was talking about. Of course, universities need to make sure they offer enough education to their student-athletes about agent issue. But, they are still students. And, it is easy to try to defend those students, if I am on the universities’ side. But, it can also be seen as just pretending or a lie. Maybe, as many people said, Nick Saban was saying that, because it was all business for him. But, sometimes, it’s all business for me, too. I know Nick Saban is paid way much more than I am paid as a professor, but, I think it is same. I do have a teaching philosophy and try to keep it in my mind when I teach and make a class plan. If I am not a professor, I don’t have to have those things. I don’t have to really care about students. Well, if I am a medical doctor, I would take care of patients, because that is my profession. I am always thinking of students and how to make them better, because it is my profession. In other words, it is my business. Then, are you going to call me a liar?
Anyway, my point is that I saw the teaching philosophy from Nick Saban. That is why I like him, even though many people blame him.
Then, Nick Saban has been always consistent with what he was saying, as I know.
Especially, in his first press conference at Alabama, he talked about his players and how he would teach them. And, after that, it was always the same way. Nick Saban always emphasized his players to do their best and to show their best and not to focus on the results.
And, today, what did Jeff Sentell talk about him in his article?
The message about freedom of choice not meaning freedom from consequences hit home. Players are free to act how they wish, but are also subject to seeing their careers penalized as a result. Smart high school coaches can motivate by replacing the NFL prize with college scholarships.
Do his players follow every word? The Marcell Dareus story proves that even projected Top 10 picks aren’t perfect.
But a great deal of his players excel off the field.
Aren’t arrest reports down?
Saban said Alabama had a record 22 graduates play in the national championship game. There were 13 players who graduated before the 2009 season and 12 freshmen who made Academic All-SEC.
Isn’t it something the University should do? I know Alabama is eager to sell tickets and have a very good athletic program, part of it, because of money. However, who do not want to make money? Every profession is paid. Who wants to work without being paid? Who wants to just sacrifice without supporting their family? Then, my question is, what is professionalism? Is it doing a pro bono? Or is it doing a right thing for the profession?
Now, it came down to my area. Public Relations, which is criticized by people with a same reason. People call it as a “spin doctor” or a “hype”. I even heard that some journalists said, “I hate PR, because they always try to give media same answers.”
I always teach my students, “don’t be a lazy PR person. If you are lazy, then, only thing you can do is hyping and spreading false information.” For Public Relations, its biggest goal is helping out its organization. To help its organizations, public relations need to consider employees, investors, customers, community, and even CEOs. And, I would say, if CEO does not know the importance of public relations, the company does not have a future, especially, in today, every company needs to deal with lots of media and people. Organizations really need to realize public relations is not a sending out press release, but, in charge of facilitating communication with organization’s all stakeholders.
So, honestly, I love Nick Saban, because he, of course, brought a National Championship to Alabama, but, I also love him, because he knows public relations. He has a philosophy. He understands college football and student-athletes. He can suggest the way where the athletic program needs to go. He does not say really weird thing in front of media. He always tries to give them the most accurate information. He is never afraid of saying, “I don’t know, but, I will let you know whenever I have more information.” He serves community. He is doing a charity. I know he is a millionaire, but, not every millionaire does a charity. The most importantly, he knows who is the most important public for collegiate athletic program. They are players, who are paid for their education. Well, in every sports organization, players are the most important public. But, in collegiate athletic program, they are “students.”
Well, those things are all I teach in my PR classes. I always have a bias toward Nick Saban and University of Alabama, because this is my alma mater. And, I always have a bias toward public relations. I even tell my students public relations will change the world. I also always have a bias toward students, because it is my profession and it is my business. Do you want to blame me, because I have biases? Well, bring it on, then.
Lebron James is going to decide tonight at 9 ET on ESPN.
When I heard this, I thought, wow, it sounds like college football recruit, where 18-year-old kids try to play a super-star game. But, it might be much bigger, since those 18-year-old kids may not even play for at least one season and get a red shirt in their college, and very few of them become a real college football super star, and what Lebron wants is not a super-star game. Lebron is a super star already.
I am hearing that he’s leaning toward Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls may also get him. But, I don’t know. I feel like there might be a big twist at the end. Or, that might be my hope, because of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
Michael Jordan won his championship with Bulls picture obtained from basketball-tips-and-drills.com
Kobe Bryant won Championship with LA Lakers picture obtained from NBA.com
Michael Jordan only played for Chicago Bulls and won six NBA championships. Kobe Bryant also played only for Lakers and won five NBA championships. People, especially, remember them as a leader and led the team to the championship. Kobe, especially, was remembered as a leader when Lakers made NBA championship appearance in 2007-2008 season for the first time after O’Neal left the team after 2003-2004 season.
Once I studied hometown players’ impact on NBA attendance, one of the data I collected, actually, showed great impact of Lebron James. In 2003-2004 season, Lebron James brought 34% more on Cavaliers’ attendance.
Cavaliers have not been very far from championship in recent years. I konw Lebron wants a championship ring. But, I think both Lebron and Cleveland need to know something. What do people want to have today? A hero or a super star? Kobe won the NBA championship in recent year and K.G. also won it three years ago wearing Boston Celtics’ uniform. Well, who do you think closer to Michael Jordan’s legacy? I don’t think it is K.G, even though I really think K.G. is a great player.
Well, if Lebron chooses Heat tonight, he may get a championship ring with Wade and Bosh. But, media is weirdly quiet about Cleveland Cavaliers. Isn’t it the sign of Lebron staying? It might be good for Lebron, IF he wins championship someday soon before he wants to leave again. He may become much closer to Jordan and Kobe’s legacy with his championship ring with his hometown team, Cleveland Cavaliers. It might be good for NBA, who needs a hero and a cinderella team like Cavaliers badly. It should be good for Cavaliers to have championship in its history. Also, fans will love to see their local product leads a team to championship. It might be good for many American people, who will have observed the journey of a hero.
I don’t know. But, I kind of feel that Lebron will sign with Cleveland Cavaliers, or that is my hope as a teacher of PR and I always wish the best to all sports organizations including NBA.
And, unlike 18-year-old high school kids, who just wants to enjoy little bit of attention before they wear the red shirt as a freshmen in college, Lebron is already a super star and what he wants is, actually, not a championship ring, but a legacy, which Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird had, and Kobe now has. Or, that’s just my hope. Well, at least, if Lebron stays, I will be a die-hard fan of Cavaliers.
Lebron wants to have a legacy that Kobe Bryant has picture obtained from CAVSnews.com
Public Relations, Social Media, and Sports 
