A Tale of Two Owners (and two communications strategies)

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Redskins are the undisputed kings of the sports hill in Washington, DC.  While their fortunes of late have been underwhelming, three Super Bowl rings and rich history and tradition keep the fans packed in the stands, and makes DC one of the best football towns in the NFL.

The Capitals, however, have always fought for exposure and attention in Washington.  I’ll openly admit I’m a huge Capitals fan, so take that for what it’s worth.  And we could fill up many columns comparing the differences of each team’s owner, but the purpose of this post is to take a look at the owners of these respective franchises and analyze their c communications and media strategies.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder follows what I’d call the consolidate and control model.  It’s about as “old school” as you can get when evaluating your options in today’s media environment.  A few seasons ago when Snyder’s management style and involvement in the team were constantly under scrutiny by sports radio programs, how did he handle the negative publicity?  Snyder started a radio broadcast company, bought up some struggling local radio stations, and moved the game day broadcasts and “official” pre and post game shows under his control.  Last year, Snyder purchased WTEM 980, the leading sports station in the market, and now has a virtual monopoly on sports talk programming in DC. 

And what about all of the angst expressed on fan websites?  How did Snyder address these fan concerns?  When the most vocal fans flocked to ExtremeSkins.com in numbers that paled in comparison to his own fan forum on Redskins.com, he simply bought the website, and enforced his own rules to control the posts.

Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, on the other hand, takes a much different approach.  Some of his approach is by necessity.  The Redskins are an institution in Washington.  Traditional media coverage of the team starts well before training camp and extends throughout the season and beyond.  When Leonsis took over as owner of the Capitals a decade ago, a big Caps victory may not even get video coverage on local TV stations and Washington’s two major newspapers would sometimes not even send a reporter to some Caps road games.

So what is Leonsis, an internet pioneer at AOL, going to do?  He became one of the most accessible owners in sports.  Leonsis publishes his email address, and answers everyone personally (with very few published exceptions).  He guested on more radio and TV shows than I can remember; often suffering through painful interviews with hosts that were either clueless or hostile towards the Caps and/or hockey in general, and was always gracious and welcoming.  He worked hard to get all Caps games on local cable television, exposing the game to more casual fans sports fans.

Most importantly, however, he used his internet and communications skills that made him a driving force at AOL, to create a social media presence for the Capitals.  Leonsis embraced the sports blogosphere, and years ago began giving press credentials to sports bloggers.  Leonsis became a blogger himself, and usually posts multiple times a day on the Caps, his business interests, and other general musings at TedsTake.com.  When he learned that the local media were not sending any reporters to cover the IIHF World Championships in Russia in 2007 (an offseason tournament that would feature many of the Caps star players playing for their various home countries), he footed the bill for some independent Caps fan bloggers to travel to the tournament in Moscow and write about the games for the Caps website and their own blogs.

So what has all of this accomplished?  The Capitals now have arguably the most active blogosphere in the NHL.  Caps fans get the same (or sometimes better) in-depth coverage, player interviews, training camp analysis, practice coverage, etc. from these online sources, than teams like the Redskins get from DC’s local TV and newspapers.

Oh, and now that the Caps are enjoying some success on the ice?  The traditional media has come around.  Caps games often lead sports segments on local TV channels, and the local newspapers place news and feature articles about the team prominently on the front page of the sports section.  The beat reporters from both of Washington’s big daily newspapers host blogs of their own, with reports from practice, and links to other stories by independent bloggers with their own analysis.

So how does this relate to social media?  The Caps not only achieved a strong foothold in social media, but their success on and off the ice has forced local traditional media outlets to step up their game.  With quality coverage already coming from multiple sources, TV and newspaper reporters need to compete for fan attention.  Also, the wealth of information about the team, its owner, and its players that is constantly produced and posted by the blogosphere gives traditional reporters a great source of research and story ideas, helpipng reduce the time that overworked reporters need to file a story.  The fact that Leonsis credential s both reporters and bloggers to sit together in the press box, provides a very real forum for these two types of newsmakers to come together to share and collaborate ideas and opinions about the team.

The result is a vibrant range of media coverage.  And so far, Ted’s commitment to the Caps blogosphere has been unwavering.  When the Caps went on their late season run last year to win the Southeast Division and make the playoffs, they were the story of the NHL.  When media credential requests exceeded the space constraints of the Verizon Center press box, Leonsis still issued media credentials to independent bloggers, just as he did for the last few years when the majority of press box seats stood empty.