One of the early segments in our book goes through some of the pioneers in sports communications and how they set the tone for the future. One of those is the legendary Joey Goldstein, whose time in New York involved some of the biggest events and stunts we have ever seen. Joey was always pitching.
Part of his thinking was to take advantage of the quiet times, and he would always be looking for lonely media types to find unusual stories for on some of the quietest days of the year, especially Christmas and New Year’s Day. While others rested, Joey maintained, there was news to be had. Now it didn’t always work, and the coverage Joey chased has somewhat faded at least in the traditional form of print newspapers, but the idea of taking advantage of storytelling during quiet periods probably hasn’t been any greater than it may be as we reach the end of 2020.
I raise this as I hear from so many people about a rush to get things done in the first two weeks of December, before people start taking off for “The Holidays.” Indeed the sports business world really started to pause in a period from when the March of Dimes Sports luncheon was (usually the Tuesday or Wednesday after Thanksgiving) through the last in person conference of the year (usually the SBJ Intercollegiate Athletics forum) through the end of a week which culminated with the College Football Hall of Fame Dinner, the Heisman trophy, and many times the Army-Navy game. While the NBA and NHL and NFL still played, a lot of business would normally hit pause from that December 15 period until the start of the year, which for many in recent years began with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and the College Football Championship.
This year, not quite so. Heisman is in January, NBA and NHL haven’t even started the season yet, there are no in person events, most other sports outside of NFL, (and MLS now coming to a close) and the start of everything for 2021 is still in flux.
So why pause?
No this is not to say we all don’t need a break. But its not like most of us are rushing to holiday parties, travelling for the holidays and taking a few minutes from a robust year. Yes we need to pause, but we are in a very unique time where we can keep leaning forward, keep connecting with people, keep looking for opportunities and for those of us who can, keep finding ways to engage and build content through the end the year and beyond. It is a great time to be looking forward, to making lists of all that has been learned that can be extracted from this very unique reset we have been placed in, and to best manage and balance the time we have to be productive and push forward.
My biggest worry about this time is that there are still many looking back to where we were in early March and trying to reengage with practices that worked or revisit thinking that made business run smoothly. There has been in some cases lots of talk about innovation, but not a great deal of how that innovation can apply permanently to where our industry will be going forward. Part of that is because of the remaining uncertainty which will be with us well into 2021. Part of that is because sports and entertainment at the highest level are risk averse industries…the safe and status quo has always worked. Part of that is fear of change. However if you have taken the time to listen…to learn…to take some risk…and to invest efforts into what will be a reshaped business on the other side of this…you will be in a much better position than those who have paused during the pause, or sought to solve problems with approaches and hope that things revert back.
We aren’t going back.
So where does this leave us for the rest of December and into January? Instead of a full pause that is traditional, use time wisely to really map out a path with best practices and learnings that can apply. Take the time to keep creating content without looking closely at the calendar…what was a normal cadence even last year is not what it is this year. If you have some great stories either find ways to self storytell using social platforms or proactively find folks who are working from home who can help you share information in the coming weeks, especially stories that are about hope, innovation and positivity.
We can’t get enough of those elements now, and Lord knows, those who are struggling need to hear them.
Certainly is a year like no other…
