Case Studies in Sport Communication

You Make the Call

Terry L. Rentner, David P. Burns, Terry L. Rentner, David P. Burns

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351747288
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Case Studies in Sport Communication: You Make the Call goes beyond the box scores by offering readers the opportunity to evaluate popular and diverse issues in sport—including management, crisis, health, ethics, gender, race, and social media. Each chapter incorporates theory and communication principles as well as topical background information, and concludes with discussion questions and engaging assignments. This volume presents real-life, provocative sports cases that bring contemporary headlines into perspective and inspire critical thinking. Each chapter features scholarly evidence that will keep the conversation lively, thoughtful, and informative. Students are encouraged to challenge the ethical implications of what they have read and to "make the call." This is an invaluable resource for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students of sport communication and sport management.

Part I
Front Office

Section I
Strategic Communication

1. “There’s No Media Plan for the First Gay Player in the NFL”: A Case Study of the St. Louis Rams Drafting Michael Sam

Karen L. Hartman

2. Civic Recovery in the Aftermath of a Hockey Crisis: Analyzing a Strategic Communication Response to the Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot

Derek Moscato

3. Patching a Crisis With CSR: How the NFL Fumbled Its Handling of Domestic Violence

Chelsea L. Woods & Ashli Q. Stokes

4. Explaining Sports Fans’ Recognition of Sponsors Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model

James Pokrywczynski

5. Coming Home: The Los Angeles Rams Connect to Past to Build Future

Jean Kelso Sandlin

1
“There’s No Media Plan for the First Gay Player in the NFL”

A Case Study of the St. Louis Rams Drafting Michael Sam

Karen L. Hartman

This case study analyzes the public relations tactics utilized by the National Football League’s (NFL) St. Louis Rams when they selected Michael Sam, the first openly gay player, in the 2014 draft. Relying on personal interviews, the study identifies and analyzes the team’s response when Sam was drafted. The case study suggests the franchise was ultimately successful in its public relations efforts to manage the media and perceptions of Sam and the Rams due to three reasons: effective message framing, recognizing relevant publics, and utilizing proactive advocacy.

Introduction

During the final round of the 2014 NFL draft, the St. Louis Rams chose Michael Sam, a former University of Missouri defensive end, as the 249th pick. Sam had a successful college career from 2010–2014 and won several national awards, including the Associated Press Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year and being named first-team All-America by five different sporting organizations. While picks so late in the draft often go unnoticed, drafting Sam, the first openly gay player, put both him and the organization under a media microscope. Drafting Sam was met with mixed responses but ultimately served as a pivotal moment to question a sport often understood as “one of the most masculine sports ever” (Mazzie, 2014, p. 130). While football acts as a site of heterosexual and hegemonic masculinity, the Rams’ selection arguably challenged dominant expectations of how athletes, specifically male football players, “should” act. Not only was the draft an important moment, but Sam kissing his boyfriend on national television further served to question and resist the dominant norms expected of male athletes.

Due to the historic nature of the pick, the Rams had to acknowledge and prepare for questions and responses from internal and external audiences. This case study, therefore, analyzes the public relations response the Rams organization utilized when Sam was drafted. It relies on personal interviews conducted with Artis Twyman, the senior director of communications with the team when Sam was drafted. Twyman’s interviews provide perspective on what team representatives were thinking when they drafted him and how they planned to work with the media to both promote and protect Sam.

Background

The Rams have a long history in professional football, and potentially unknown to many fans, they have a record of making historic civil rights moves. Originally based in Cleveland, the team moved to Los Angeles in 1946 until they moved to St. Louis in 1995. The team stayed in St. Louis until the 2016 season, when they moved back to Los Angeles. Through the years the team was in a position to make an impact, and in 1946 owners made a historic civil rights move when they signed Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, the league’s first black players in the modern era (Zeigler, 2014). Signing the players broke “the unwritten 12-year ban of African-Americans from the NFL that had been set in place by Washington Red-skins owner George Preston Marshall in 1933” (Garcia, IV, 2016, para. 7). The Rams, therefore, have a reputation for tolerance and civil rights and for challenging social norms. Even today, the team’s awareness of social issues largely shapes how the organization functions. For example, the Rams stress community efforts, and in 2015, community outreach was the biggest part of the organization’s budget. They also incorporate monthly staff days of community service (A. Twyman, personal communication, July 24, 2015).

While the Rams value outreach and its notable part in the civil rights movement, in the larger world of sports some civil rights still remain a challenge. In particular, being openly gay in a professional sport is extremely rare. Examples exist of athletes breaking this particular barrier, such as former National Basketball Association players Jason Collins and John Amaechi, Major League Soccer’s Robbie Rogers, and Major League Baseball’s David Denson and Billy Bean (Kahrl, 2015), but the culture of football is seen as the most hypermasculine and resistant to challenges to heterosexual norms.

Recognizing the cultural significance of drafting Sam, the Rams needed to rely on traditional public relations tactics while also preparing for the unique media attention Sam’s draft would bring. Balancing trusted PR theories and principles, while recognizing that no NFL or professional team had drafted an openly gay player, would be key to managing the media, fan, and general public attention.

The Case

The 2014 NFL draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City from May 8–10. Since the first draft aired on television in 1980, it has steadily grown in popularity into its present media extravaganza. The 2014 draft “drew a combined total of 32 million viewers—a 28% increase from the previous year” (“The NFL Draft,” n.d.). At its most basic, the NFL draft involves seven rounds that span three days during which each of the league’s 32 teams select a player in each round. Teams spend the first few rounds selecting the most coveted players according to their scouting and team needs. Some opt for need by position; others choose the best player available at the time. In the later rounds, teams draft players who were productive in college but undersized or not as gifted athletically, or more unproductive players who demonstrate potential because of their size and athleticism. Michael Sam was a standout collegiate athlete at his position—defensive end—but by NFL standards was ill-suited for that position and, if drafted, would need to find a new niche on a professional team.

During the draft, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher, general manager Les Snead, and executive vice president Kevin Demoff made decisions for who would be drafted, cut, and signed. As the draft got closer to the seventh round, the senior director of communications for the Rams, Artis Twyman, spoke with Coach Fisher to clarify what team officials thought as the end of the draft approached. Fisher told Twyman before the seventh round that once the team’s needs were met with the drafts from the higher rounds, then whoever had the highest football grade would get drafted. Entering the seventh round on Saturday, Sam had the highest grade and was drafted as the 249th pick. Immediately after the draft, Twyman spoke with Sam on the phone, and Sam emphasized that he wanted to play football and that he wanted to be comfortable with himself. He also stated that he did not want to act “as a huge civil rights person” (A. Twyman, personal communication, July 24, 2015).

Rams officials waited until the next day to start considering a media plan. Twyman spoke with Coach Fisher on Sunday morning, and they identified specific public relations strategies and tactics to follow. First, they wanted a consistent message that informed various publics about how drafting Sam was a football decision. Second, the organization wanted to educate players, staff, and fans. Third, the Rams wanted to strategically grant access to certain media outlets. Twyman believed these strategies would help keep the team and its message focused. While team representatives were confident in drafting Sam, they did not want distractions to take away from Sam’s, or any other player’s, ability to perform in training camp.

One of the first decisions made to educate players and staff was to invite Wade Davis, a former NFL player and gay rights activist, to speak to team personnel. Davis played in NFL Europe and spent four preseasons with NFL teams before announcing he was gay in 2012. On Monday, an all-players meeting was held, and Davis spoke about being gay in the NFL. Inviting Davis was a strategic choice for the Rams, since Davis, a former player, had immediate credibility with the players. Davis’ main message focused on respect. After speaking with the players, Davis spoke with the staff, where he emphasized that Sam’s draft should not be viewed as a money-making venture. Twyman and Davis worried this position might be difficult to accept for people in areas whose sole purpose was to make money, such as in marketing and sales.

Another initial contact the Rams made was with Sam’s publicist, Howard Bragman. Bragman had already lined up several media commitments for Sam: An interview with People magazine, a GQ photo shoot, and an article in the LGBT publication OUT. In addition, Sam was receiving the Arthur Ashe ESPY award and participating in an Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) documentary about his life. Twyman and team representatives were fine with everything except the documentary.

After speaking with Coach Fisher, who agreed that it would distract from football, Twyman spoke with Bragman and stated that the OWN documentary must not be a distraction. This turned out to be one of the more complicated components in the first few days after drafting Sam. Over a two-day period, Rams representatives spoke with people from OWN and expressed that they did not want the documentary to be done. However, days later, OWN sent out a press release stating that the network would do the documentary. This was inconsistent with how the Rams wanted to proceed, and according to Twyman, team officials were frustrated. By week’s end, however, OWN’s president flew to St. Louis, and all sides agreed that the documentary would be delayed. As a way to help facilitate, the Rams provided supplemental video footage (B-roll) to OWN, and the documentary did not become a distraction for players.

Beyond Sam’s personal media commitments, the Rams needed to plan for media interviews, so Tuesday served as the team’s news conference day. The Rams decided not to have Sam interviewed by himself, but instead they broke the day up into three parts: 1) all first-round picks; 2) second- and third-round picks; 3) all fourth-, sixth-, and seventh-round picks (the team had no fifth-round picks). Sam, therefore, was a part of the news conference day, but Twyman, staying consistent with keeping team personnel focused on football, announced that only questions about football would be taken. Afterwards Sam was available to answer any other questions, and he did so on his own. This allowed the Rams to stay consistent with their football focus but made allowances for the various types of media that attended. As the team moved past the news conference day, and the first week after the draft came to a close, the Rams continued to deny one-on-one interview requests and made Sam available to the media once per week. Twyman believed this helped maintain Sam’s focus on football while minimizing media distractions.

The public relations decisions Twyman and the organization made largely utilize three PR concepts: message framing, recognition of publics, and pro-active advocacy.

Message Framing

The Rams strived to present a consistent message, and Twyman’s main goal was to have “one message and many messengers.” Twyman’s strategy fits with the message-framing theory that Entman (1993) explains as selecting “some aspects of perceived reality and [making] them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (p. 52). Message framing selects and emphasizes key parts of an issue, which thereby creates a social reality for how someone views the world (Hallahan, 1999).

In public relations, creating consensus among various publics is vital, and strategic message framing can help various groups view an idea or event through similar frames. The hope is that whatever strategic message is...