There are many coaches and athletes out there who are absolutely brilliant at what they do on the pitch but when it comes to media they don’t want to know about it. These people can be a real challenge for managers and sport administrators. The fact is that if you’re in a high profile sport that generates enormous income from broadcasters, advertisers, sponsors and fans and you are being rewarded appropriately because of the money that sport brings in then you have an obligation to the media, like it or not. The media aren’t always fair, they aren’t always kind and they may even have hidden agendas from time to time, but they are a crucial cog in the money making machine that sport is. No coverage = less interest from fans = less interest from sponsors = less advertising dollars = pay cut for you the athlete.
While I’m on the subject, it’s amazing how many sports stars shun the media when competing only to look for job opportunities in the media when they retire?? Everyone has parts of their job they don’t like, media can be one of those for athletes but that doesn’t mean you can ignore it. In future posts I will comment on the how to deal with it part.
