The NFL brand appears to be as iron-clad as any today but the findings of a college professor indicate there may be chinks in that armor. What should be especially troubling to the league is that millennials are particularly disturbed by recent events according to a study conducted by USC marketing professor Jeetendr Sehdev.
The Aaron Hernandez murder conviction Wednesday accelerated the downturn in the league’s perception making it one of America’s least trusted brands in just three years. An astounding 61 percent of millennials rated the NFL as a sleazy organization on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being respectable and 10 being sleazy. That’s compared to 48 percent overall who regarded them that way.
“What we’re really seeing are issues when it comes to trust. There’s a lack of openness (related to concussions), a lack of acceptance (related to race and sexual orientation) and a lack of compassion,” observed Sehdev. Respondents found the NFL six times less compassionate than MLB or MLS.
In turn, 54 percent of respondents overall and 67 percent of millennials said they don’t trust NFL players, 74 percent overall (78 percent of millennials) believe players take illegal steroids to improve their performance, 54 percent believe the NFL is anti-gay and 54 percent don’t believe the league’s image on matters of sexual orientation will improve even after the drafting of openly gay player Michael Sam.
“The key finding for us is that transparency is the cost of doing business now for most organizations, especially among millennials, and that’s where the problem lies,” Sehdev explained. “Eventually, as trust erodes, it will impact the bottom line and you have to be concerned about whether the NFL will lose relevancy to up-and-coming sports like soccer.”
Sehdev added that his research has shown that NFL trust has slipped to a point where the league is comparable to brands such as Malaysia Airlines and Wal-Mart. “The consensus is that the NFL brand is durable enough to withstand any PR disaster, but it really is in crisis from a consumer-perception standpoint.”
What will be interesting to watch is how the NFL addresses this issue going forward.
