On the 29th of September, the NFL closed all Tennessee Titans facilities due to eight players testing positive for COVID-19. Along with announcing the closure of the facilities, “the NFL informed the Titans that they could not gather outside the facility for any reason” (Moraitis, 2020, pp. 6). Unfortunately, some of the Tennessee Titans players did not follow these protocols, “a group of Titans, which included quarterback Ryan Tannehill, worked out at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville on 30 September” (Guardian sport and agencies, 2020, pp. 2). It is very alarming that it took less than a day for these individuals to break the NFL COVID-19 safety protocols. However, because of their actions, the NFL is investigating into the team’s outbreak. Moraitis (2020) states, “The NFL reportedly has pictures of Titans players not wearing masks while at the team’s facility” (pp. 7). In their investigation, they are also looking into whether symptoms were being timely reported, and tracing devices were being worn. It is very unlikely the Tennessee Titans are going to get away with this without facing any sort of consequence. In fact, there has been a buzz going around the league that says the punishment for the Titans may even be historic, “given the news that the team apparently gathered to practice last week after expressly being told not to do so, the Titans could be facing a consequence the likes of which the NFL has never seen” (Moraitis, 2020, pp. 6).
I find it remarkable that the head coach for the Tennessee Titans or even the owner has yet to come forward and say something about the issue at hand. However, to provide the most recent update for the crisis, “The Titans’ outbreak increased to 23 on Thursday,” and the “facility remains closed with the team still prohibited from any in-person activities” (Guardian sport and agencies, 2020, pp. 5).
Since this is an evolving crisis, I wanted to look at how the players have responded so far to the situation, and provide suggestions using what we have learned so far this semester at what I think the PR team should have the representative of the Tennessee Titans say and/or do. To begin, let’s look at the Titans fullback, Khari Blasingame’s response to quarantine due to his team having a high number of cases. Bacharach (2020) states, “Blasingame tweeted an image from the TV show ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’ In it, one of the show’s characters, Squidward, is peering through window blinds to see two other characters, SpongeBob and Patrick, having fun without him. Blasingame’s caption: ‘mood’” (pp. 3-4). This humorous tweet was not a good look for Blasingame of the Tennessee Titans. We know that reputations are threatened during any crisis, and because Blasingame was taking the situation lightly, this reflected poorly on the Tennessee Titan organization.
If I were the owner of the Tennessee Titans I would look to Coombs’ “General Guidance for Using Crisis Response Strategies” when deciding my next step. Looking through the table it is very clear there is only one option for the Titans front office, which is to form a full apology. Coombs (2017) states that an apology must be formed for “any crisis where there is evidence that the organization is the primary actor responsible for the crisis” (Table 7.2). The Tennessee Titans need to formulate a full-apology where they accept responsibility for breaking the COVID-19 safety protocols and communicate how they intend to practice better safety measures during practices. I also believe it is important for them as an organization to repair their reputation by apologizing to the school district where their players were caught secretly practicing, as well as the teams they were supposed to play these coming weeks who now have to change their schedule.
References
Bacharach, E. (2020, Oct. 5). Titans react to COVID-19 positive tests, life in quarantine. Nashville Tennessean.https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/nfl/titans/2020/10/05/tennessee-titans-use-memes-to-react-to-covid-19-positive-cases-quarantine/3623654001/
Coombs, W. T. (2019). Ongoing crisis communication planning, managing, and responding (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Guardian sport and agencies. (2020, Oct. 8). Titans could face ‘historic’ punishment for secret practice amid Covid outbreak. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/oct/08/tennessee-titans-coronavirus-outbreak-discipline
Moraitis, M. (2020, Oct. 8). Titans likely to face punishment for protocol violations, could be
‘historic’. Titans Wire. https://titanswire.usatoday.com/2020/10/08/tennessee-titans-covid-19-outbreak-punishment-historic/
Claire Lee Hawkins 