Sports Leagues, Teams, Athletes and their Much-Needed Public Relations

In a nation where professional athletes make millions of dollars playing for multi-million dollar sports teams, public relations is needed more than some may think. The fans of these sports teams are brutal - happy when the team is bringing in wins, but angry and calling for heads when they're losing. Fans expect nothing but the best from the players and the team that they support. These fans are what keep the team and sports league afloat; by paying for tickets and souvenirs, they can cause, or ruin, the success of a team or league. This is why PR is an important aspect for not only the sports teams themselves, but the leagues that they are a part of, and the players that help bring in the money.

Each professional sports league hosts upwards of 30 teams. Each individual team is a representation of the league itself. In today's world of corporations and branding, each sports team has gone out of its way to brand itself to the nation. The nation holds these leagues to the elitist brand that they sell themselves as; these are the best players, playing for the best teams, in the best league. The support for these leagues is so strong that even the smallest slip-ups are scrutinized and criticized.

The NFL (National Football League) has been running into a PR nightmare as of late. Football is known to be the roughest and toughest sport in the nation, with its hard hits and massive, built players. The league, however, is careful to avoid an image that is too harsh and severe. With the amount of players who have found themselves in trouble with the law recently, the league is struggling to promote a positive image. To help show its commitment to holding players accountable, and to show that the entire league does not follow the stereotype, it has started to impose bigger sanctions against players. Here are a few of the biggest suspensions of the last few years, as composed for USA Today (Bell):

16 games "Pacman" Jones, 2007, violating NFL's personal-conduct policy

16 games Ricky Williams, 2006, violating NFL's substance-abuse policy

16 games Koren Robinson, 2006, violating NFL's substance-abuse policy