arthur solomonThere are many dark sides to the business practices of American companies. Some companies get away with unsavory doings because it goes undetected. Others attempt to camouflage the harm that they have done by supporting the arts. Others, whose television commercials encourage unhealthy living, try to avoid being labeled bad by tagging commercials with slogans like “drink responsible.” And regardless PR and advertising firms eagerly go after their business.

But there is one aspect of American commerce that seemingly has no shame – sports organizations, enabled by the sponsors, TV networks, advertising and PR agencies and the media.

In no other business that I can think of have so many employees been forgiven as are athletes. Time and time again just because someone is athletically endowed employee/athletes have been welcomed back despite conduct that would have been unforgiven in other businesses.

Slap on the wrist penalties are the norm, except when commissioners are forced to make examples, see A-Rod, see Tom Brady (see what happens in the future).

The most recent “example” punishment was doled out by the N.F.L. to Brady for using slightly under inflated footballs. The way the N.F.L. came down on Brady you'd think he was guilty of spousal and other assaults, DWI's, and carrying illegal guns all on the same day at the same moment. (Laughable how the N.F.L. waited until after the Super Bowl to announce the New England quarterback broke the rules.)

There is no excuse for Brady knowingly breaking the rules, if he did it willfully (see independent analysis that differs from the N.F.L. investigation’s finding of incriminating evidence in the “Deflating ‘Deflategate” Op-Ed in the June 14 N.Y. Times’ Sunday Review section), but the way he was portrayed by the league and in the media you would think he was on the F.B.I.’s public enemy #1 list. And on June 23 he’ll be judged by of all people commissioner Roger Goodell, who for decades ignore concussion concerns and handed-out “stand-in-the-corner” type punishment for far more serious player transgressions, like spousal abuse, DWI’s, assault and carrying illegal guns. The Brady punishment might be justified, but when Goodell is the sentencing judge any reprimand is seriously clouded by his sorry history.

Following in the N.F.L.’s appalling history on concussions is the N.H.L, whose commissioner Gary Bettman is scheduled to be deposed in July in a law suit filed by former players who have accused the league of promoting fighting and hiding the dangers of blows to the head. No need to repeat Bettman’s statements about the danger of head trauma here. Just Google Goodell’s responses when the issue first surfaced years ago.

It’s expected that the sports cartels would do everything to protect their businesses and they do so shamelessly. On the national level they threaten to move franchises if their present locales refuse them tax breaks; they forgive tarnished athletes as long as they can help winning.

On the international level, the International Olympic Committee continually awards its propaganda-laden games to totalitarian governments, with its ludicrous reasoning that sports brings people together, as does FIFA, which has finally achieved its goal of gaining major media coverage for soccer in the U.S., without the help of a PR firm.

Equally as disingenuous as the sports cartels are its sponsors, the great majority of which ignore the dark side of sports while spending millions of dollars to promote their brands.

Even after the FIFA corruption scandal, sponsor negative reaction was tepid, with scant mention of the sleaze that has been hinted about for decades. (The most vocal supporter of FIFA is Putin, which should automatically set off multiple red card alarms.)

Of course TV and print media, which was dragged feet-first into denouncing football’s concussion issue and baseball’s steroid era, have a major role in propelling sports to the undeserved pinnacle it now has.

For decades the media has played an important role in promoting sports, often acting like PR people by glamorizing players, league commissioners and coaches, despite their history of ignoring the criminal transgressions of players, and ignoring the unsportsmanlike aspects of the sports businesses until forced to report on it because of public revelations.

And definitely not to be excused is our public relations business and its parent, the advertising firms.

Often rationalizing that PR practitioners act as criminal defense lawyers and that every client deserves to be heard and defended, sports marketing PR and advertising people should adopt as their emblem the three wise monkeys famous for seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and speaking no evil, as long as the budget is large enough.

Everyone, including me, should hope that sometime in the future our grandchildren do not ask us about how our business responded when Russia denied human rights to its citizens and Pussy Riot members were publicly horse whipped for protesting Putin’s totalitarian regime during the Sochi Olympics games; when we worked on communications campaigns and ignored the dark sides of sports by neglecting its realities and brandishing its tarnished image; by pretending that athlete spokespersons promoting brands knew what they were hawking and that sports was pure, sports were good, sports were patriotic and that sports brought the world together because of its people-to-people aspects.

If our grandchildren one day asks us how we responded to the unsavory doings of the big business of sports during our sports marketing PR and advertising days there is only one truthful answer. “We took the assignment, took the money and looked the other way.”

In 1776, the Broadway musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there is a song titled Molasses To Rum, in which during the dispute about adding an anti-slave clause to the Declaration, aSouthern delegate sings about how Massachusetts businessmen are willing partners in the lucrative slave trade, despite their public objection to slavery. The song ends with the lyrics, “Who stinketh the most?” The lyrics today could apply to advertising and PR agencies, networks, sponsors and the media, all of whom looked the other way and for decades covered up the debauched side of sports and along with the “sports family” are responsible for taking the word “sportsmanship” out of sports.

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Arthur Solomon, a former senior VP at Burson-Marsteller, contributes to PR and sports business publications, handles PR projects and serves on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at [email protected].