Valley PR Blog

Fleischer’s new client a tougher sell than Tiger

By Len Gutman on December 9th, 2009 In Hype!

Former Bush Administration front man Ari Fleischer now runs a sports communications consulting firm and his newest client may be the toughest sell in sports — the Bowl Championship Series.

Most sports fans have been critical of the BCS for years since it’s pretty clear that the NCAA is unlikely to create a playoff system for Division I college football because there is too much profit embedded in the bowl system. On top of that, the BCS has the unenviable job of trying to convince a nation of sports fans that it’s system makes sense when it so obviously does not. Sounds like the perfect job for W’s former press secretary!

I’m a huge critic of the BCS and this year’s Fiesta Bowl right here in Glendale is a great example of why. Because there is no playoff system, this year’s Fiesta Bowl — one of the top tier bowls — is stuck with a match up between Texas Christian and Boise State. Yes, both teams are undefeated. But they play in lower level conferences and between the two of them they only beat a couple of ranked teams. I’m sure the game will be interesting, but so is Harvard/Yale and hardly anyone cares about that game. Without a playoff system college football will never have a true national champion.

So what is Fleischer doing about the BCS? There’s a great column today on Mediaite that discusses this. Writer Steve Krakauer says Fleischer has a long way to go to convince people the BCS is the right system.

So far, Fleischer himself has been largely silent, presumably advising the BCS directors on the points they should drive home in TV and print interviews. But Fleischer did do one interview – with The Daily Beast last week. “A playoff scheme would be contentious and would create a whole new level of frustration between fans and teams,” Fleischer told Bryan Curtis. That’s right: a playoff scheme.

Looks like Fleischer’s strategy is to stick to a story that nobody believes. Hmm. Didn’t Iraq have WMD?

I guess for me the question becomes whether or not I could take money to promote something so blatantly wrong. I suppose it’s a matter of degree. I think we all have probably written a  glowing press release about a product or service we may not have felt so strongly about, but I doubt too many of us would be willing to stand in front of a podium and flat out defend something we knew in our hearts was wrong. Of course, defending the BCS is a far cry from lying about why we’re sending troops into harm’s way. Like I said, it’s a matter of degree.

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