Big buzz surrounds the comments of BYU QB Max Hall and the reported bad behavior of University of Utah fans. On the opposite sidelines is alleged mistreatment of Utah coach Whittingham’s daughter by BYU fans. As an alumnus of both schools in question, my thoughts about the infractions in question have covered a lot of yardage defining the problem and suggesting a solution. So, here goes nothin’. Hut! Hut! Hut!

The challenge is not solely the bourgeois behavior of fans or a rude comment by an athlete. After further review from a business communications perspective, the problem is that high profile customers gave these schools a failing grade as a host.

The company (university) challenge is creating a safe environment and a positive buying experience for customers (fans)-both home and visitor. One could easily make a case that sports tourism, whether from city to city or nation to nation, has a huge impact on school, city and state revenue. Some states allocate funds to ensure they get their piece of the tourism pie through sports. In addition to tourism, think about the legal risk for a school for out of control fans. Read more at Utah Business Magazine.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 9:39 am and is filed under PR Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.