The fantasy sports league is meeting a harsh reality. Cheating allegations have rocked the daily sports fantasy industry, putting the market under intense scrutiny and the white-hot glare of the media.
The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI are in the preliminary stage of an investigation into daily fantasy sports operators, according to the Wall Street Journal.
What is more, Nevada gaming regulators on Thursday ordered that the two biggest fantasy sports sites—DraftKings and FanDuel—shutdown operations in the state until they obtained a gambling license. Lawmakers are also calling for federal regulation of the industry.
This has also the drip-drip-drip characteristics of a major scandal, which may pose and existential threat to sports fantasy leagues. Changing the narrative is only the beginning of whether the industry can salvage its reputation.
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The longer that the industry waits to address the allegations the worse it becomes for the industry, said David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision, which specializes in crisis communications.
Johnson offered several PR tips for how the sports fantasy leagues can start to get out from under the scandal.
• Announce an investigation into itself by a top-level individual, such as a former FBI Director Robert Mueller or former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani. This will show that the industry is addressing the allegations seriously and working to address any wrongdoing, from an ethical standpoint, and is attempting to police itself.
• Suspend any employees who are under suspicion of breaking the law. It is known that one employee apparently broke the law. Anyone who did or is under suspicion needs to go at once. Investigators, regulators, and the public expect nothing else. This is a chance to clean house and show that nothing illegal or even slightly unethical will be tolerated.
• Address all key stakeholders on what the fantasy sports league operator is doing in regards to the allegations. The worst thing the industry executives can do is not to inform employees, the players, public and regulators what they know and what they are doing. They need to do this to instill confidence in the leagues and also show that they can weather the storm.
• Speak to the news media and address all allegations. Silence will hurt the sports league operators and allow others to set the narrative of this scandal. They need to get out in front of it by disclosing what they know and speaking with the media. No comment and total silence plays to their disadvantage. In any crisis, it is essential to communicate with the media at all times.
• Engage a public relations campaign promoting the industry and educating people about it.
There’s a fine line between newsjacking and taking advantage, aka ambulance chasing. Our job as PR professionals is to tread it carefully.
PR firms need to be mindful of ways their work product may be protected by the attorney-client privilege whenever working with a client’s internal legal team or its external legal counsel.
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