It has been a full week since the world exploded for the New England Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick. The hype surronding the espionage shows no sign of dying down. The harsh penalties imposed by Commissioner Goodell only serve to further amplify the questions surronding the Patriots organization, especially from a marketing perspective. Although Belichick's gruff attitude has made him a less than popular guy around the country, in Foxborough, he is a God and I'm pretty sure a big seller of the famous New England Patriots sweatshirt. Will this cheating scandal ruin Belichick's image of a role model for young kids? I would say yes, if I was a parent I would not endorse merchandise, a team, or a person cheating because it is not a good example for kids.
The marketing department for the Patriots needs to find a way to put the scandal in a positive light in order to counteract the damage this negative publicity has had on the organization. I wonder what sort of a plan they will come up with because I would have assumed that Robert Kraft would distance himself from Belichick. Interestingly enough the opposite has happened with Kraft and the rest of the organization standing behind Belichick. The organization seems to have no problem with Belichick and is confident in his ability as he is rumored to agreeing to a five year extension-- albeit before the scandal but there have been no rumors of the extension offer being rescinded. I think it will be interesting to see how many fans turn out for the first game in Foxborough against the Chargers tonight and how many people watch the game.
Cheating obviously is something that cannot be controlled in sport. It is only possible to catch a few and set them out as examples and hope that it serves as a deterrent. I wonder what effect the new marketing strategies all of the NFL-- not only the Patriots-- will have to implement in order to attract fans, new and old, to a sport with the image of cheating.
