National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell, beset with issues involving head injuries to players and alleged failure to address domestic violence by players, is the top speaker at PR Seminar May 31-June 3 at the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs.
A recent poll of 500+ fans for Sports Illustrated found that 37% think he should be fired, 28% want to keep him, and 33% are unsure.
Numerous stories about head injuries of football players have appeared lately. The New York Times has collected dozens of them for a library on the subject.
A Bloomberg Politics Poll found half of Americans would not let their sons play football.
Other issues include the “deflategate” flap over charges that the New England Patriots were using underinflated footballs and the continuing controversy over the name of the Washington Redskins.
Also an issue is the $44 million pay package of Goodell. Gentleman’s Quarterly headlined “Roger Goodell’s Season from Hell.” It noted the game remains very popular and that league revenues have grown by 65% since Goodell joined eight years ago.
300 Communications/PR Execs Invited; No Press
Off-the-record PR Seminar (the name used on it tax reports) invites about 300 PR executives to its annual four-day sessions at top resorts featuring golf, tennis and other sports. Registration fees are about $3,500.
The 15 other speakers on the program this year include Ryan Crocker, ambassador to Iraq from 2007-09, and Cameron Munter, Ambassador to Pakistan 2010-1012, who will talk about the “Crisis in the Middle East”; Ken Feinberg who will discuss “Unconventional Responses to Unique Catastrophes”; Aflac CEO Dan Amos and David Rubenstein, CEO of the Carlyle Group who will appear in a “CEO Session,” and Harold Burson, whose session is titled “Interview with the Master,” and who will also take part in the CEO Session.
The entire meeting and attendance lists are “off-the-record."
Editors of such publications as Time, New York Times, Washington Post, Business Week, National Public Radio, ProPublica, etc., have attended in the past although journalist critics, including Peter Sussman, a founder of the ethics committee of the Society of Professional Journalists, said editors compromised themselves by taking part in the off-the-record proceedings that often involved government officials or ex-government officials as speakers.
Gerard Baker, editor-in-chief, Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal, Peter Cashmore, CEO of Mashable, and Brian Stelter, senior correspondent of CNN and host of "Reliable Sources," will discuss "What Is Fact in the New Media Environment." Margaret Marshall, former Chief Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Court, will talk on "The Law and Social Change." Amina Mohammed will discuss "Global Climate Change."
Seminarians will tour the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. It is h.q. for the swimming and shooting teams.
Association Management Services, Pasadena, Calif., is managing the organization.
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Teneo has hired Nick Greenslade, deputy sports editor at The Times and Sunday Times, as managing director for its strategy and communications unit in London.
Jon Schwartz, a former SVP, communications, marketing, digital & social for the Big Ten Conference, is signing up with Prosek Partners to launch a new sports business unit.
USA Fencing has retained Finn Partners ahead of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and Paralympics Games.
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