Summary of the Interview
Through which channels do you follow the team?
Answer: personal contact is always essential in sports where athletes struggle to win. The management department must use a multi-factor communication model, namely written and oral communication, to establish trust and deliver information. We speak every day during training sessions, press conferences, closed meetings, and athletes’ initiatives.
What media features do you use in your team?
Answer: As in any other public sphere of activity, the media plays a crucial role in PR operations. We work with in-house and guest journalists to build a permanent media presence.
What tasks does management perform in terms of media activities?
Answer: Even though we are more responsible for results and motivation, we are all media people. We must speak at press conferences, give interviews to the media, and help promote the athlete in society.
Knowledge Gained from the Interview
The sports sphere is no longer a field for athletic records, physical progress, and individual or teamwork to win. Instead, it is a highly diversified structure in which audience engagement and sports marketing become revenue generators. In turn, the financial well-being of the team allows optimizing the long-term strategy for gradual growth. An interview with Brad Johnson showed that modern sports involve all stakeholders in the media. Team management is responsible for internal well-being and results, but even this is a subject to journalism. It correlates with research in which the digitalization of information and diversification of sports broadcasts are becoming business priorities for teams (Dugalić, 2018). Thus, audience engagement occurs not only through the success of the athletes but also through quality marketing.
Diversification of communication channels allows performers to choose the optimal communication strategy with the media and the team. Johnson uses multidimensional communication, such as face-to-face conversations and online communication, to implement an ongoing contact strategy. This approach makes it possible to timely identify interpersonal or motivational crises with the prospect of their appropriate resolution. Thus, this interview confirmed the hypothesis about the team’s sports spirit, which applies both to interact with the media and to the organization’s internal structures.
Reference
Dugalić, S. (2018). Sport, media and digitalization. SPORT – Science & Practice, 8(1), 56-69.