The NFL has been dealt with a crisis and a tragedy that has not only captured the attention in the professional sports industry, but also in social media and traditional media news outlets. NFL player Jovan Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs shot and killed his girlfriend in a murder-suicide. This story has captured the attention of many in the industry and has looked at how this tragedy brings about new concerns the NFL needs to address.
Issues related to security to mental health screenings were brought up in the various discussions and columns in the sports industry. This situation has raised many emotional responses among the players and coaches in the NFL, who have taken to Twitter and other social media sites to express their thoughts and feelings related to this tragedy. CEO and Kansas Chief Chairman Clark Hunt released a statement related to the Jovan Belcher case by stating:
“The entire Chiefs family is deeply saddened by today’s events, and our collective hearts are heavy with sympathy, thoughts and prayers for the families and friends affected by this unthinkable tragedy. We sincerely appreciate the expressions of sympathy and support we have received from so many in the Kansas City and NFL communities, and ask for continued prayers for the loved ones of those impacted.”
This is one of the things we saw in our study related to loneliness a few years ago. We are more connected than ever as human beings and it appears we have so many ways to share information through pictures, videos, and text. So, the question is – is social media and being digital connected one of the problems here? Brady Quinn, who is the QB for the Kansas Chiefs, actually addressed this issue in a Washington Post article:
“We live in a society of social networks, with Twitter pages and Facebook, and that’s fine, but we have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends, and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with our phone and other things going on instead of the actual relationships that we have right in front of us. Hopefully, people can learn from this and try to actually help if someone is battling something deeper on the inside than what they are revealing on a day-to-day basis,” – Brady Quinn
However, traditional communication and face-to-face interaction may what we have to make sure we put an effort towards. Also, one of the things we as crisis communicators have to make sure to address is the role of detecting early warning signs. Were there any signs that could have been addressed before the crisis (or triggering event) occurred in this tragedy? What about action steps that others could have taken to make sure this did not escalate? However, there are cases that happen out of the blue without any warning, so it is very difficult to prepare for these types of situations. This crisis has raised several points that the NFL not only has to address, but crisis communicators and others as well. How can we reach out to our audiences and those that we know through offline and online means? With looking at the various interactions and number of followers, friends, etc on all of these various social media platforms – can crisis communicators and PR professionals use this data to determine if there are cases where there needs to be an intervention?
In summary, this crisis is bringing about a lot of questions related to early warning detection both offline and online, as well as questions related to why this would happen. Many news outlets are discussing this issue more and it will be interesting to see how this continues to develop and how the NFL is responding to this situation. They had to play a game on the second (which they won), but everyone commented on how they were able to perform due to hard circumstances. This is where resilience comes into play – and the Kansas Chiefs did this not only as an organization, but also communicated this with their players to be integrated into their overall culture.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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