It’s officially football season and that means Sunday’s are typically filled with food and watching football. Football is a great way for family and friends to come together and share their love for this sport. The passion from the fans and the dedication of showing up each weekend to watch their team play is the main reason for why this sport is so widely enjoyed. Public relations contributes tremendously behind the scenes of NFL football and so most people don’t realize the impact of public relations during preseason, throughout the regular season, and postseason.
The image of each football player is all managed by a public relations professional. Having a good social media presence and relationship between the athletes and the public is extremely important because it provides understanding and strong communication. Public relations professionals work hard with athletes and their teams to maintain a good reputation online. They may encourage their clients to attend high-profile goodwill events or volunteer and work with well known companies to promote their image and show that they can give back to communities in need.
Keeping the public and fans engaged in the content of their favorite team or athlete is also another important task for a public relations professional. Without fans, football wouldn’t be possible so making sure the fans are happy is a big priority. Social media is a beneficial tool where PR can publish game highlights or specific key plays from the game and interact with the fans in the comment section of posts by liking and commenting back. Upcoming game predictions, wins, and short player interview videos are all great ways for PR to get the team’s fan base invested and excited about game days. The team’s website is where a majority of the news tends to be located. PR professionals are most likely the first to pitch and publish news articles to these websites daily to keep the public well informed on injuries, trades, etc.
Besides social media, external events are also important in creating this excitement for football. There are two main opportunities for fans to go and see their team play during preseason. The football training camps and preseason games are both great opportunities and smart tactics by PR to build up the anticipation for the start of the season. Media day is another event that typically includes a large press conference managed by the PR staff. PR professionals have the ability to create that merge between reports and players/coaches for a day and allow players an opportunity for their voices to be heard. When you take a step back and think about everything that goes into football, it’s a lot. I think sometimes we don’t acknowledge all the work that PR does to make football so successful for the teams involved and the public watching. Next time you watch a sports game, acknowledge all the minor details that probably went into pulling off that event and I bet you will be surprised at how many details are usually overlooked.