I’m in Las Vegas this week attending a conference. Last night I went to dinner with a bunch of guys from Medina, Ohio who are huge Cleveland Cavalier fans. We positioned ourselves near a mega screen monitor so we could see the Cavs ultimately pounded by the Celtics 120-88.

Early on, when the game was relatively close and spirits were higher, the LeBron James rumor mill was the talk of the moment. Facing July 1 free agency everyone at the table had an opinion on whether LeBron will stay or go. With each opinion came a rumor about what someone told someone about LeBron’s status. Also with each rumor and opinion came blame. Who to scapegoat and take to task if LeBron seeks mega millions elsewhere?

As a PR guy this got me thinking. It’s not about just LeBron, it’s about sports in general. Each day is filled with stories in the paper and online, as well as sports radio and television, that are based on heated rumors and bashings about one team, coach, manager or athlete.

If these were stories about our fire departments, chiefs or firefighters we as PIO’s would be apoplectic! We would be in total crisis communications mode!! This would constitute one of the worst days of our careers.

But hey, sports is sports, trashing is status quo.

This begs a PR question that came to my mind, what should teams do when new rumors surface? Should they ignore them? Issue a statement? If this was the case a football sized team of media spinners would have to work for each organization and player churning out refutes to rumors and scandal.

Personally, I’m not sure teams can do anything. Athletes, and the teams that pay their ridiculous salaries, are going to be scrutinized and talked about left and right for every move they make, and don’t make. Maybe it’s up to the PR dept. to issue as much positive news as possible in an effort to combat any negativity that might come out about the team or one of its players? Maybe they already do this and it doesn’t work?

My take though. Nothing is better for ticket sales, then to use a fire analogy, a good controlled burn.

 What a difference in the public information world. Sports PR guy’s help fuel the fires while we try to put them out.

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