Introduction Crisis management in professional sport is an ever evolving area which requires constant attention by the organisation in order to maintain a positive social image and the smooth operation of an organisation. Coombs (2012), defines a crisis as “the perception of an unpredictable event that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders and can seriously impact an organization’s performance and generate negative outcomes” (p. 2). This case study will be discussing the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal and the Canterbury Bulldogs breach of the salary cap. With specific reference to relevant journal articles, websites and statistics, this case study will provide relevant examples identifying possible causes and solutions towards these areas of crisis in relation to the NRL. Problem The NRL introduced a salary cap in 1999 to do two things. Firstly, it was established to spread player talent evenly across the competition. Second, it aims to restrict clubs overspending or spending beyond their means of player payments (NRL, 2012). The current salary cap stands at $4.3 million for the 25 highest paid players at each club and an additional $350,000 for players outside of the top 25. The Canterbury Bulldogs first breached the salary cap in 2002 by about $2 million over three years. (Andon & Free, 2012). The Melbourne Storm were accused of allowing third party payments to Cameron Smith (Proszenko, 2010) and of contractual discrepancies and unreported player payments that pushed the club over their salary cap by around $300,000 in 2008 and $200,000 in 2009 (Smith, 2010). Cause Financial performance is a huge factor and potential reason as to why organisations would engage in unethical acts. Sport is one of the fastest gro... ... middle of paper ... ... ensure the game fulfills its broadcast commitments (Sydney Morning Herald 2013). This initiative has been lauded as a smart business plan as it prepares for a number of scenarios and allows the league to keep functioning. Conclusion The salary cap breaches by the Melbourne Storm and Canterbury Bulldogs highlight areas in which both correct and incorrect crisis management approaches were applied. Correct PR methods included diversion and portraying a consistent message. McGregor & Harvey (1999) conclude that most of the public relations work is performed by players, coaches, managers and agents, rather than by specialist public relations personnel due to an old fashioned culture. This suggests an area for improvement as it is vital for current day organisations to have a team of PR specialists in place to deal with crisis planning and management, 365 days a year.
Anyone who has been involved in an organized sport, whether it is backyard football or a high school sports team, knows that these sports all have organizations that are responsible for setting rules, determining conditions of play, and penalizing individuals who infringe the rules. Some of the organizations like the National Football league and the MLB are familiar to most people, the rules they follow are not generally understood by anyone who is not closely associated with the sport. Most fans and sport critics assume that what is happening inside these organizations are of little concern to them. However, this is not the case. In the MLB, the New York Yankees spend an excessive amount of money every year to obtain big name players. A luxury tax was put into effect for teams that go over the spending limit. However, the Yankees are the only team that pays the tax because they are the only team that exceeds the spending limit. The players, coaches, fans, and I have argued that a salary cap would be the best possible way to allow teams in the Major Leagues an equal opportunity getting to the World Series.
A salary cap gives all the teams an equal chance to sign players. It also keeps teams with a lot of money not able to acquire every all-star they want , or any player who is a free agent. Some Major League Baseball teams like the Anahiem Angels and the Atlanta Braves are owned by very wealthy people and companies. The Anaheim Angels are owned by Disney.(Worisnop, 128) So with no surprise the Angels can produce a team which can be very competitive, and have several all-star players. Just recently they exercised this advantage by signing Mo Vaughn for ninety million dollars over seven years.(Antonen, 2) There were at least four other teams that wanted to sign this all-star, but the Angels easily had the money, and outbid everyone who wanted to sign him. If there was a salary cap in Major League Baseball then the Angels would have thought twice about giving that much money to one player. With the its roster for one year. So giving one player 12.8 million dollars for one year does not really make sense if the salary cap is fifty million dollars a year. That would leave only 37.2 million dollars for the twenty-four other players, which equals each player getting on average a little less than one and a half million dollars a year.
The focus of professional sports has evolved from one of teamwork and camaraderie to one of avarice and greed. The specific problems in recent years that have stemmed off this overwhelming greed include exorbitant salaries, lockouts (or work stoppages) in professional sports, and the growing disparity among team payrolls. Most recognize these issues as major problems; however, others overlook the greed and see validity in the financial aspect of today's sports world. They argue that professional sports are thriving and should not be modified.
...salary cap will provide an answer for some of the most serious problems facing the NBA. It will lower ticket prices, allow more teams to be more competitive and eliminate the any future lockouts. If these problems can be fixed by enforcing a hard salary cap, I don't see why it shouldn't be done. The NBA should enforce a hard salary cap.
In order for an Athletic team to have effective PR, they require very large in-house staffs which are very diverse in there job descriptions and responsibilities. The first and broadest group is the basic public relations staff. The basic public relations staff takes care of the basic day to day of the organization. They are the people who write and release the updates on the team to ...
This research paper will examine professional athletes who participated in the major leagues and Olympic Games who used steroids to defraud the Major Leagues Business and Olympic Associations to gain fame and fortune. The paper will examine the BALCO scandal (CNN.com, 2014), where many professional athletes admitted to taking steroids to improve physical sports performance. The BALCO scandal "outs" players from the American National sports leagues to Olympic competitive sports. A cover up of drug use led to not just a few but many players who chose to use steroids to improve their game. The case went to the courts and left many players to tell the ugly truth about other professional players. In some cases, the players denied responsibility and ...
In 1970, a hotdog costs fifty cents, a pop costs one dollar, a ticket to a NFL game costs fifteen dollars and the average football player made between nine and ten thousand dollars. Jump ahead almost 40 years and a hotdog that cost 25 cents now costs on average five dollars and fifty cents, a pop costs six dollars, a ticket to an NFL game costs 100 dollars and the average player gets paid over two million dollars! Times have changed. Because of all of those price changes, and insignificantly the salary of players, in 1994 the National Football League introduced the first salary cap that allowed owners to spend a certain amount of money on players. The Players Union and the National Football League did this because for one, they were tired of players getting thrown from club to club just being a price and two to make things more equal between the teams. Today, money and fame have made players and owners very greedy and cocky people. Players ask for negotiations when they are making well over a million dollars a year and there are people in the United States that are homeless? That it the biggest reason that the salary cap needs to stay in effect. If the salary cap goes out the window, just like it did this past season, a sports fan can kiss NFL goodbye in ten years from now because there will not be enough money to pay all of the players. There should be a salary cap in the National Football League because it allows organizations to be equal and have a better chance of competing with each other and it may put players in their shoes so they know they can’t have everything they want.
The discipline of public relations is a modern profession which has been in existence for only close to a century; however, it has already taken an important role in the fields of business, government, entertainment and non-profit organizations including educational institutions and healthcare organizations. Public relations professionals are required to have excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills and have the ability to persuade the public. It is imperative for PR professionals to effectively communicate with its public in order to establish and maintain a positive relationship. Furthermore, public relations professionals must have the ability to work under pressure and effectively manage crisis which may have detrimental effect on the company and the public it serves. State purpose of paper and an overview of what will be covered in the introduction
In most cases a crises occurs at the most unexpected times. The crisis seems to take the organization by surprise and is usually reached due to a lack of a control and response system. This is apparent in the case study "There's a syringe in my Pepsi can!" Effective communication is the key to successful communication to the Pepsi crises. (Center, 2003)
The communication process is not something that begins when a crisis rears its ugly head rather it is a process that takes place in preparing for a crisis before it happens. While the term crisis represents a blanket term used to describe many situations, each situation is unique, thus presenting different obstacles to overcome. However, with a well-established advanced plan in place an organization places itself in a position to overcome and work around obstacles. The development of a comprehensive crisis management plan is one achieved through effective communication where each member of the crisis management team has an advanced shared understanding of his or her role and responsibility during a time of crisis (du Pr'e, 2005).
Football is the most obvious sport whose commercial value has been tainted by the actions of its players. While the game still attracts multimillion-pound investment from brands due to the massive media spotlight it enjoys, many are questioning the wisdom of their associations in light of a seemingly never-ending stream of negative headlines.
While sports for the spectators are merely entertainment, the economics of the industry are what drives businesses to become involved. Sports have become more of a business entity rather than an entertainment industry due to the strong economic perception of the over all industry. There are several instances in which economics may contribute to the effect on the sports industry, such as: the success of a team, the price of a ticket, the amount of money an athlete will make, and the amount of profit a team will make. The success of an...
Football is a very famous and well-known sport all over the world. Fans go crazy about their favorite clubs and teams play as hard as they can to win the championship. What a lot of people do not talk about is the money aspect of football. Every year football clubs spend millions on buying and selling players, which is called transfers. Apart from that, the amounts of money clubs pay their players, as a salary is outrageous depending on the team. In many leagues, there is the firm belief that spending a lot of money on players leads to success. It is easy to pick out the teams that spend most money on their players since their wage bills are much higher than the rest when compared. Looking at the English Premier League, which consists of 20 different teams, one is able to see how much teams spend on their players. This brings up questions such as: how can we measure how worthy a player is and decide how much to pay them? Or, how do teams decide that a player is good enough? Why do players who seem to be just as good as others get paid so much more? These research questions are all very interesting, though what will be focused on is the relation between success and the amount of money spent on players’ salaries.
Strategic management is critical to the development and expansion of all organizations. Sports Direct must align its mission and vision with its operations to keep itself accustomed with its surroundings (Joseph & Eshun, 2009). The firm must consider potential strategic issues surrounding the importance of sustaining their competitive position without compromising on cost or value, whilst maintaining superior operating efficiencies.
Sports are one of the most profitable industries in the world. Everyone wants to get their hands on a piece of the action. Those individuals and industries that spend hundreds of millions of dollars on these sports teams are hoping to make a profit, but it may be an indirect profit. It could be a profit for the sports club, or it could be a promotion for another organization (i.e. Rupert Murdoch, FOX). The economics involved with sports have drastically changed over the last ten years.