Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig’s announcement last week authorizing an investigation into alleged steroid use by Major League Baseball players came as no surprise to sports marketers and executives.
The scandal was the hot topic at the World Congress of Sports event in New York last week— days before the MLB announced former U.S. Senator George Mitchell would lead the investigation.
Panelists and attendees discussed the effect the allegations had on MLB, particularly for brands and baseball slugger Barry Bonds. Bonds, who is implicated in the investigation, begins the baseball season today with the San Francisco Giants and is seven homeruns short of breaking Babe Ruth’s 714 homerun record.
The majority of attendees polled said MLB should downplay Bonds’ achievement if it happens. And in sessions with industry executives, Dawn Hudson, president and CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America, said any celebration should be low-key and indicated that her company is not considering any promotions or affiliations with Bonds.
“We have to be good brand shepherds,” Hudson said.
Other executives indicated that any recognition of Bonds achievement by their company, even before the facts are in, would be viewed by consumers as an endorsement of steroid use.
“No one wants to associate Bonds with whatever product or image they’re trying to promote,” said Dr. Roger Park, associate professor in the department of sport management at Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, FL. “Time will cure the issue somewhat, and companies will have to wait until the team or athletes can score big points again to help redeem their reputation.”
The scrutiny that MLB has come under is nothing new to sports leagues, nor its team members. Two years ago brands watched with heightened interest when National Basketball Association player Kobe Bryant was arrested on sexual assault charges. McDonald’s and Nutella quickly dropped Bryant from their roster of celebrity endorsers. Nike, which signed a $45 million deal with Bryant shortly before his arrest, pulled ads featuring the athlete and waited for the smoke to clear.
The charges, which were subsequently dismissed, seem far removed from Bryant’s record 81 points scored in a game earlier this year (the second-highest score in a single-game in NBA history).
But MLB observers believe the league is trying to score its own points with the viewing audience of America’s favorite pastime.
“The allegations that…Major league players have used steroids and other illegal performance-enhancing drugs have caused fans and observers to question the integrity of play at the highest level of our national game,” Mitchell said in a statement. “These allegations require close scrutiny.”
Network
