Rodger Goodell e-mail me yesterday.

And, I assume he e-mailed many other people.

First of all, I like it.

I’ve got an e-mail from the president of the University of Alabama, when I was a graduate student there. Athletic director of Alabama also e-mailed me once.

I’ve got an e-mail from the Chancellor of UW-Stevens Point at the end of the last semester.

I greatly appreciate when the head of my organization does it. I always think this is a great public relations effort.

Well, Roger Goodell is not the head of my organization and I feel like I’m the head of his organization, since I am a fan, a customer, so called the King. It’s little different. Yes.

As a head of his organization, I like his comment in his e-mail,

If both sides give a little, everyone, including fans, will get a lot and the game will improve through innovation.

I am not sarcastic at all. Truly, I like that comment and I hope both sides really give a little.

I also like the fact that he explained the situation to his fans and he is indeed trying to embrace many publics, including fans.

I like his conclusion, too.

My job is to represent the game — the fans, teams, players, coaches and business partners. Protecting the integrity of the game and ensuring it thrives is a responsibility I take very seriously.

This is about more than a labor agreement. It’s about the future of the NFL. We have to improve and will be relentless in our quest. The commitment to our fans is to make the NFL experience even better in the years ahead. With a responsible CBA, we will fulfill that vision.

I know Roger Goodell began his NFL career as a PR intern. He was also an assistant in PR department of New York Jets.

I liked his approach when he dealt with Micheal Vick, because he considered the league itself as well as the future of one player. He even invited Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, to help Michael Vick.

I also like his approach at this time because he seems to follow the public relations principles that Arthur Page Society suggested.

Arthur Page Society is “a professional association for senior public relations and corporate communications executives who seek to enrich and strengthen their profession.” (Arthur Page Society webpage). They suggested very famous textbook principles for Public Relations on their website, which I always share with my students in my any PR classes.

• Tell the truth. Let the public know what’s happening and provide an accurate picture of the company’s character, ideals and practices.
• Prove it with action. Public perception of an organization is determined 90 percent by what it does and 10 percent by what it says.
• Listen to the customer. To serve the company well, understand what the public wants and needs. Keep top decision makers and other employees informed about public reaction to company products, policies and practices.
• Manage for tomorrow. Anticipate public reaction and eliminate practices that create difficulties. Generate goodwill.
• Conduct public relations as if the whole company depends on it. Corporate relations is a management function. No corporate strategy should be implemented without considering its impact on the public. The public relations professional is a policymaker capable of handling a wide range of corporate communications activities.
• Realize a company’s true character is expressed by its people. The strongest opinions — good or bad — about a company are shaped by the words and deeds of its employees. As a result, every employee — active or retired — is involved with public relations. It is the responsibility of corporate communications to support each employee’s capability and desire to be an honest, knowledgeable ambassador to customers, friends, shareowners and public officials.
• Remain calm, patient and good-humored. Lay the groundwork for public relations miracles with consistent and reasoned attention to information and contacts. This may be difficult with today’s contentious 24-hour news cycles and endless number of watchdog organizations. But when a crisis arises, remember, cool heads communicate best. (Excerpted from Arthur Page Society webpage)

Dr. William Anderson said, in Public Relations Review (2008, pp. 151-155), public relations background of Pete Rozelle, former commissioner of NFL, and his approach as a PR person, made NFL the number one sport in the U.S. I also agree with Dr. Anderson and like to talk about how they differently treated crisis issues from other professional sports organizations in my classes from time to time.

I think Roger Goodell tried it little bit differently at this time, too, by e-mailing one of his very important stakeholders, the fans.  OK. Now, he has the most important, but, the most difficult tasks among those seven principles. Tell the truth and prove with action. But, at least, he already initiated to communicate with the fans. I hope he did it with other stakeholders, too. And, I hope he proves with his action. I am not talking about the agreement, but, the approach. I hope he listens to and talks with players.

Well, either way, I will use his example in my class. I hope it is a case of good PR, because I am also one of the fans of NFL, as Roger Goodell indicated in his e-mail, who cares the league.