The New Jersey Nets are putting together quite a winning streak. After winning three of their last four contests, the Nets have successfully avoided the tag of the “Worst Team in NBA History,” leaving that distinction to the 1972-1973 Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets are also putting together an impressive new media resume off the court—at least in terms of their damage control.
At noon today, njnets.com will be streaming a live “Brown Bag Lunch Summit” with Nets Sport and Entertainment President & CEO Brett Yormark and disgruntled basketball fan Chris Lisi to discuss the future of the struggling franchise. Nets radio broadcasters Chris Carrino and Tim Capstraw will also attend.
The meeting comes after a heated exchange between Yormark and Lisi during a Nets loss to the Miami Heat last Monday night. Yormark reportedly approached the Middletown, NJ native—who was wearing a brown paper bag over his head—and began shouting and pointing in his direction. People close to the incident claimed Yormark asked Lisi why he was wearing the bag and Lisi simply responded, “Because the Nets are so good.”
Though Yormark defended his actions the next morning to the local press, it seems that the team’s marketing and public relations department might have stepped in and are trying to turn the negative incident into a positive one, creating a forum where a true fan can actually air his grievances and concern directly with a key decision maker.
As the new media industry continues to grow in the sports world, it is not surprising that team’s utilize its power in a multitude of ways, including that of public relations. Message control, instant feedback, and low cost are just a few of the reasons a strategy like this one can be most appealing to a department executive. Even with all the problems the New Jersey Nets have faced this season—from game play to ownership to the team’s uncertain future—they have found a way to convert a very bad situation into a potentially good one, all with the help of new media.
So instead of this unique opportunity coming out of a brilliant marketing strategy in order to pull this team out of the NBA dumpster, it really just came out of this idiot CEO yelling at a fan for not liking his team. I mean, good ideas are good ideas, no matter where they come from, but it probably could’ve been better if they thought of this before yelling at their fans.
That being said, I love this. I think it’s a great chance. I think it’d be even better if they held something similar to a press conference but with fans asking the questions instead of members of the media. This is every fans dream come true – I get to ask the hard questions and show this CEO the brutal truth. I just hope this guy doesn’t waste a great opportunity.
Finally, it will be interesting to see how censored this will be. Will they stream everything this guy has to say? Are they laying down ground rules before hand? I hope not to both of those for the sake of entertainment. I guess we’ll see!
Pretty cool. We talked about this incident in my Sport Marketing class after it took place. And today in class, we talked about this strategy. Most students were impressed with the Nets’ decision. One student noted that he thought it was setting a dangerous precedent in which outspoken fans would expect the organization to go to such lengths to appease them. An interesting perspective.