ABSTRACT
This chapter will take a look at what can be labeled a subset of the sports publicity field, but a very important and lucrative one. So far the team concept on both the professional and collegiate level in terms of publicity has been addressed. The next topic addressed will be dealing with the individual sport athlete, as well as looking at the individual sport circuits and the challenges and opportunities they each present for publicity. The traditional individual sport disciplines-golf, tennis, auto racing, bowling, athletics, gymnastics, boxing (now mixed martial arts)—are still alive and well, both nationally and globally, and are thriving in most cases. However, the recent explosion of extreme sports, competitive gaming, Olympic sports, and even poker has made this area a potential growth area for sports publicists. Whereas before there were usually opportunities for publicity only for a limited few, the opportunity to create publicity and deal with athletes in both major individual and in niche sports exists more than ever before. The faces that were identifiable to the general public in the past were the small group in individual sports. Tennis had John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, and Martina Navratilova. Golf always had its big names on top like a Nicklaus or a Palmer, and the other mainstream individual sports surfaced more in Olympic years. Now the growth of social and digital media, digital cable, and new lifestyle publications designed for niche sports, not to mention the video game boom, have developed a much broader area of exposure for athletes like Tony Hawk in skateboarding, Georges St-Pierre in mixed martial arts, Shaun White in the X Games, Usain Bolt in athletics, and Michael Phelps in swimming, just to name a few. They have their own websites and manage large-scale media opportunities, their own demographic that follows them, their own sponsors, and their own niche media. Local businesses are seeing these individuals as low cost, moderate to high impact to showcase their
logos and products on a wider scale, and using publicity as the vehicle to do that with their investment. Now there are some similarities. The involvement of agents in making media decisions, the team concept in sports like racing (where the individuals train together but there are clearly individual, as in auto racing and cycling), does play into the mix. For the large part these athletes are self-contained, almost individual contractors who are responsible for many of their own expenses, entry costs, and travel with the exception of the high elite ones. Many also fund their own coaches or are subsidized in some ways by national governing bodies, so the distractions and the duties are often more complex than a team sport participant. The other difference in many ways is in their individual sport athlete’s mental approach to things. Because in many cases the prize money and sponsor dollars are basically thrown out there for the best to get from week to week, many times they are more singularly focused than the team athlete. The nature of the individual sport is also more like the traveling circus. Because there is really no home, the tour or league moves from city to city around the world or the country recreating itself each time. Therefore, the opportunities for local fans to see, embrace, and identify with a number of individual sport athletes is very limited. Of course there will be breakthroughs: Michael Schumacher, Jeff Gordon, Roger Federer, Chuck Lidell, Venus Williams, or Tiger Woods. That is the beauty of the champion. The advent of the internet, digital TV, webcasting, and satellite radio has greatly assisted in recent years in finding ways for the casual fan to connect to their individual favorite athlete more regularly. However, the ability to effectively promote the individual athlete on a consistent basis still represents its very unique challenges, and challenges which sometimes present the perception that the individual athlete is even less accessible than the team athlete. However, they are challenges which can be overcome with good planning, clear communication, and the ability to use and pool all PR assets to make a strong presentation. Some of the challenges are as follows. Agents and sponsors usually rule the roost. Unlike team sports, where there is a general manager or league or union presence to control or assist in times of issue, the individual athlete is ruled by individuals. For most top-tier athletes-those who would compete on professional golf and tennis, bowling and track and field tours, those who race open wheel, NASCAR and the Formula 1 circuits-the be all and end all decision makers are twofold: the agent, who has the ability to negotiate fees, playing sports and sponsor dollars; and the chief sponsors themselves, who generate the interest and in many cases the prize money for the events. These two groups have to always be factored into the PR plan. It also has to be remembered that agents are not publicists. In most cases they do not want their behind-the-scenes work to be exposed in the public as it can hinder future negotiations. The most
successful groups, such as IMG, and Octagon or William Morris, Wasserman Media, and Creative Artists (CAA) also deal in volume of clients. Their focus is on the sponsorship deals which bring in the money for their clients. Publicity is a secondary factor and for the most part these agencies do not assist their clients with publicity efforts. The field of expertise for the agent is in the negotiation. Most are lawyers or accountants or both, and that makes the most sense since the biggest part of their job is negotiation. For the most part, that does not change with smaller firms that have individual sport athletes. Although many times the goal of these up-and-comers is to get publicity and build a name for themselves, they are not publicity professionals either. Building relationships with these groups and making them a part of the process while understanding what everyone’s job is to do is tantamount to success.
