HOT TOPIC March, 1997

The Character Issue and its Impact on the NFL Draft The column headline in the local paper of a major metropolitan area the day before the draft read: "We Sow Weeds, We Get Weeds". It went on to ask, "How do you measure the residue of police blotters past against the weight of anticipated sacks and touchdown future?" The angle of the column was both obvious and harsh. Sports Illustrated devoted a whole article to the NFL's investigative arm: "Big Brother Watching" detailed the dollars and incredible energy put into systematically investigating draft prospects creating valuable files on each hopeful. How much credence is put in the personnel notes? Eddie Jones, president of the Miami Dolphins is quoted in the article saying, "I don't think you can overstate the value of it. You can't afford to stumble... can't afford to make a mistake." The hottest number in football supposedly is a private access code that allows key team reps to have hopeful draftees' files read to them over the phone before the team's last minute pick. Is character an issue? The answer is undoubtedly yes but it seems for most teams, only from the standpoint of knowing the merchandise you're buying. Do real and supposed character flaws cost would be professional athletes and those who've already signed the contract? On the surface, it looks like it costs athletes more in actual dollars doled out than in opportunity lost. Top picks still may go in the first round but farther down which means fewer bucks but they're still drafted...still get a chance to play in the NFL or NBA or NHL. When the question is asked, "are they worth the risk", many times it boils down to will the player start or be a backup? I'm not a decision maker in the major leagues or collegiate sports. I do however, consult with many of those people in one capacity or another. Sometimes I'm called on in an official capacity to help anticipate, ward off and neutralize public exposure. Sometimes, I'm only a sounding board resonating what they already know or suspect. At times, I'm called in (after the fact) to blunt the chorus of critics, some knowing, others not, who build the breath and depth of the issue in the land of public opinion and community involvement. My message, when I get a chance to give it, is "go for the quick bleed, rather than a slow hemorrhage". One public slip, real or perceived can be extraordinarily costly for individuals, teams, leagues, etc. However, my best calculation of how much the character issue makes any difference at all is in who is calling for Sports Media Challenge's services and when they're calling. Everybody knows that the real (translated: BIG) potential for athletes, coaches, etc. today is in the endorsement market. In 1988 when I launched Sports Media Challenge, a division of Communications Concepts, I presumed the agents would be a fertile market for our services. Agents had every reason to believe and invest in creating opportunities for their clients with the media, learning to speak in public, and I might add, for significant sums of money! They didn't. At least the agents didn't respond to our mailings and phone calls. I couldn't imagine or understand the lack of response which I equated to lack of appreciation for those so called intangibles that would help set their clients apart from the masses...help turn a sports person into a sports personality, a personality into a star. You know what? A few years have past and the world of sports on and off the field has changed. The mood is more critical, less forgiving of those athletic talents who can't, don't or won't translate physical and competitive giftedness into their public persona. Now I get calls from agents even before the drafts to help groom their clients for the public exposure and more specifically endorsements that dwarf even those salaries and hopefully, catapult them to a level above. Does character matter in sports today? I think it does and will continue, in fact, to matter more. When public dollars go into building stadiums and coliseums, when athletes make dollars that most can't even conceive of, when our children and ourselves hold these gifted people up as role models, rightly or wrongly, we feel that right to judge. Adios, Kathleen Hessert President Sports Media Challenge