A-Rod Update, PR in Sports

This isn't a fan page by any stretch and I'm not interested in blogging about my favorite sports teams. Sports do, however, provide interesting case studies on how teams, players, agents, etc. deal with the media. Most recently, the NFL Draft was a tremendous example of positioning individual players and college programs. Except for Heisman hopefuls, it is most likely the first time most of these athletes have been exposed to the national sports media. It was easy to pick out the draftees that had a PR operation and those who did not.

As a follow-up to my previous post, Alex Rodriguez is off to an amazing start and from the stories in the Post and the News and the scenes from the Stadium it appears that the fans have turned in his favor. He also recently publicly announced his intentions to stay with the Yankees and a desire to work something out contractually. The team has some real issues bringing up the rear in the AL East, and putting any questions to rest about his relationship, particularly because of his fast start, is in both his and the team's interest.

Lastly, the announcement that Roger Clemens is returning to the Yankees couldn't have been made at a better time. Sunday is a notoriously slow news day (except during football season for the sports media). His gametime, live announcement during 7th inning stretch led the TV and radio sports casts will be front page news in the New York print media.