When I was a senior VP, senior counselor and sports marketing guru at Burson-Marsteller, a client whose company was a long-time sponsor of sports events confided to me that he didn't know if his company was getting a fair return on investments on its sports tie-ins.

He said that a survey showed that consumers didn't know that his company was the sole sponsor of one much-hyped event; even worse, companies not associated with the event were credited as sponsors.

The client told me that he wasn[t certain if his company's sports marketing publicity effort resulted in selling more products than if the money was spent on holiday sales campaigns.

Move forward to several years later. A top executive at a sports media company told me that the unruly actions of parents at youth sports events and the unsportsmanlike conduct by athletes was a subject that should be addressed. He did so during a series of media interviews. 

During and after my nearly 25 years at Burson -- where I worked global sports and nonsports accounts and traveled as a media advisor with high-ranking foreign government and Olympic officials -- I warned clients that if they were considering athletes as spokespersons to make certain that they had untarnished pasts.

The media has changed over the years. Covering up for athletes' indiscretions have mostly gone the way of the horse and buggy. True, there are still reporters who feel that what happens outside the arena has nothing to do with the stats. But that too is disappearing.  

Brands that are too closely associated with a particular athlete are particularly at risk of unwanted publicity when an athlete goes bad. There are, of course, ways of minimizing a sponsor being embarrassed by an athlete. 

One toption is to just use the athlete for print and TV commercials and not as a publicity spokesperson. But that too is not fool proof. Social media has added to the risk as athletes now frequently speak their minds about political and social topics.

In the not too distant past, we've had college football and other coaches, athletes and a high-ranking official of a national amateur sports association accused of sexual abuse, an Ivy League football coach falsifying his resume, an IOC official resign because of corruption, NFL and NHL officials ignoring medical warnings about concussion-causing hits to the head, athletes arrested for DUIs, domestic violence and substance abuse, a professional football player serving a jail term for carrying an unlicensed gun, another for dog fighting, one accused of trying to build a dope selling network and a former player accused by the SEC in a stock scam. 

And this week we had a National Football League player who endorsed products, arrested for what police say is an involvement in a murder; also Major League Baseball is investigating a bunch of ball players, some of whom are product endorsers, regarding their connection to an anti-aging clinic.

The rowdiness and foul language at ball parks years ago reached the level that I limited myself to attending events, going only on business matters. I would only take my youngsters to a handful of games a year. (Luckily for me they had interests other than sports so I didn't feel guilty.) Unruly conduct has now escalated to where even those whose livelihoods depend on sports say fan conduct makes attending a game not suitable for many people.

Now, more than ever, the disgraceful actions of fans, college and pro athletes frequently end up in the police report. Which begs the question to marketers: Is there any way that they can protect themselves from being named in negative stories when an athlete spokesperson goes bad?  (Or for that matter when nonathlete product endorsers utter offensive remarks, as the Paula Deen saga shows.)

Certain companies, especially those who equate drinking with sports, will never leave the sports scene. But others have a choice: Leave, or stay with sports but cut back on sponsorships and use some of the money on none sports good citizenship programs.

Doing so will not only mitigate negative publicity caused by an erring athlete but provide marketers with a dual public relations/publicity campaign.

Marketers should consider that when planning their agendas.

solomon* * *

Arthur Solomon is a former senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in national and international sports and non-sports programs. He is a frequent contributor to PR publications, consults on projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at [email protected].