The New England Patriots’ Crisis
I’m a huge football fan. That being said, I despise the New England Patriots. Since coming to Sloan, I’ve always told people that the worst part about living in Boston is being surrounded by New England Patriots fans. When the Patriots organization faced a crisis not too long ago, I admittedly was oddly pleased that the Patriots were suffering (in all honesty, I wished the crisis never happened in the first place, but since it did, I’m glad it was the Patriots and not another team). And no, I’m not talking about the deflated ball issue.
Before everyone was up in arms about the air pressure of footballs, the Patriots faced an extremely significant crisis. One of their all-star players, Aaron Hernandez, was arrested and accused of murder. Really outside the scope of football and the Patriots’ core business, but it was a member of their organization and the Patriots had to respond. Rumors were running wild and all the major sports networks were already reporting on it.
Immediately, the Patriots took decisive action and cut Hernandez. There was no talk of standing behind him or waiting for the legal process to run its course. They removed him from the team and proclaimed that it was not any reflection of the organization. The first thing the Patriots did was announce this on their official Twitter account. In true Twitter fashion, it was a succinct and simple message saying that Hernandez was not part of the team. Twitter was already ablaze with the initial arrest, but the Tweet from the Patriots went viral and spread through social media. I felt that this was a good start for the Patriots’ response to this crisis- taking timely and decisive action to get their message out.
From there the Patriots followed up with posts on their Facebook page and official webpage announcing the same. They once again denounced the actions of Hernandez and showed sympathy to the victim’s family. I also felt this was a prudent response to the crisis. They could have stood firmly and claimed that they had nothing to do with it (which, in reality, they didn’t), but the Patriots expressed empathy and stated that their organization does not stand for anything like this.
From there, the owner, Bob Kraft, who is essentially the CEO, made a statement in a press conference reinforcing the message. This was subsequently shared on Facebook and Twitter to reach the fan base and other people who were interested in the story.
Overall, I felt the Patriots handled this crisis well. They took decisive action and responded in a timely manner, which allowed them to take control of the message. Furthermore, their choice of platforms allowed them to achieve this and put them on the right track to move beyond this tragedy. Although I dislike the Patriots, they played this one right.
