Joseph Randle, Dallas Cowboys Running Back, recently arrested for shoplifting underwear.

Get out in front of crisis! Anyone who argues with this notion in today’s world probably lives under rock and doesn’t pay attention to social media. I actually study sports and I treat as an academic discipline, that’s probably why I can’t watch games in the presence of the casual fan, as their sports’ takes are nothing more than regurgitated fodder. But today I’m going to talk about how the sports world seems to provoke more opportunities for crisis management than other industries. Perhaps, it’s because athletes and sports teams presence in the media, particularly social media, is greater than ever. But, I’m going to talk about a less serious crisis concerning Joseph Randle (Randle) (Dallas Cowboys Running Back), recently arrested for stealing underwear and how he is applying appropriate image repair theories. There are two simple things an athlete should do during crisis, apoligize and take corrective action.

Apologize and Take Responsibility

In order to mitigate the potential harm to one’s brand and repair an image, it’s wise to give an apology, wherein the athlete shows true contrition.  It’s a simple task, yet not all athletes in crisis perform this task. Tiger Woods took over month before he apologized during his extra marital affair crisis in 2010. Randle, on the other hand, apologized just a couple days after the incident and actually gained an endorsement from MeUndies, a Los Angeles based underwear company.

Take Corrective Action

Along the same lines, an athlete should take corrective action. Meaning, an athlete needs to show what steps he or she is taking to ensure the harm will not happen to themselves or the public again. Fortunately for Randle, MeUndies will give Randle underwear (corrective action for himself), but more importantly, MeUndies is donating underwear to children in need of this basic necessity, bringing awareness to the problem (corrective action to the public). Basically, a one-two jab combo is all that is needed during crisis management. That is, apologize (one) and show the public what you will do to solve the problem (two).  A simple, yet effective strategy, so it puzzles me why athletes like Tiger can’t or chose not follow this strategy. Maybe, their publicists, agents and marketing teams need more academic knowledge in their back pocket.

References

Grams, C. (2012). The ad-free brand: Secrets to building successful brands in a digital world. Indianapolis, IN: Que Publishing.

Kassing, J. W., & Sanderson, J. (2010). Fan-athlete Interaction and twitter tweeting through the   giro: A case study. International Journal of Sport Communication, 3, 113-128.

Roberts, D., & Snyder, B. (2014, September 20). Ray rice and 11 other athletes who lost their endorsement. USA Today Sports. Retrieved October 11, 2014 from  http://fortune.com/2014/09/20/ray-rice-adrian-peterson-tiger-woods-athletes-dropped-endorsements/

Shefter, A (2014, October 19). Joseph Randle to endorse MeUndies. Espn.com. Retrieved October 19, from http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story/_/id/11727006/joseph-randle-dallas-cowboys-partners-meundies-shoplifting-arrest