NFL sponsors talk tough, but likely won’t abandon league

The NFL’s major sponsors may be lining up to fire a shot off the bow of America’s most beloved and scandal-ridden major sport, but don’t expect big players such as Nike or Anheuser-Busch to cancel the multi-multi-million dollar deals that leverage the league’s massive reach to sell their beer and shoes.

That’s not to say that the NFL hasn’t been damaged by the public pounding its taken over its weak response to a domestic abuse a scandal involving Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, among others. It has, and if league commissioner Roger Goodell can’t put a fire extinguisher on this Hindenburg of a public relations nightmare, it may be the next round of negotiations with the big sponsors where the league feels the pinch.

“The NFL’s capital is certainly taken down a notch. Risk in sports marketing is usually only associated with athletes, not a team, let alone a league, so it’s a pretty remarkable moment,” said Washington PR executive Richard Levick, referring to the hard line taken by sponsors such as Anheuser-Busch, which this week said in a statement it was “not yet satisfied with the league’s handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code”.

However, just because a big company fires off a nasty statement about the NFL doesn’t necessarily mean it’s considering cutting ties. Indeed, putting some perceived moral distance between the sponsor and the league until this blows over may be the point.

To turn that bark into a bite could involve a major haircut on both sides of the equation, as cancelling big-dollar deals could be financially messy, not to mention there are benefits to being associated with a brand considered as American as Thanksgiving turkey.

“Too much beer and too many cars are sold in part because of the NFL connection for people to stop,” says Levick.

And this is hardly the NFL’s first brush with scandal. This is the league of Aaron Hernandez, charged last year with murder, and Michael Vick and his dog-fighting ring, not to mention an ongoing lawsuit by players alleging the league put them at risk by hiding the risks of head trauma.

The sponsors have been happy to continue to ride the NFL train while all that was happening, so maybe it’s not a surprise that the NFL has lagged in its response, having so far enjoyed a largely bulletproof brand.

This time the chemistry seems to be different, triggered by the now viral video of Rice punching his then-fiancé in a casino elevator, and the widespread belief the league initially tried to slide the issue under the carpet.

If Pepsi and McDonald’s and the other sponsors – particularly the ones that consider themselves ‘family’ brands – are to be kept from making a big decision the NFL doesn’t like, Roger Goodell has to leapfrog the leading edge of things and get ahead of it.

“This is an opportunity for the NFL to really use this platform to take a leading stance now,” says Keith McIntyre, CEO of Toronto-based marketing consultancy KMAC Group.

In an attempt to begin righting the ship, the league has already hired a new executive and three consultants – all women – to shape a domestic violence policy.

“The NFL has standards on substance abuse and on drugs and alcohol, but they don’t’ yet have anything on domestic violence,” says Levick.

“The NFL does a great job of looking in the rearview mirror.”