A Diamondbacks Win! (A Year Later)

Xenophon Strategies / PRGN, Washington, DC/USA, 31.08.2011

Kilka lat temu mieliśmy w Polsce akcję "Wykopmy rasizm ze stadionów". Dwa podejścia do problemów etnicznych w sporcie. Co jest na dłuższą metę skuteczniejsze – oceńcie sami.

Blake Rhodes

What do David Ortiz, Robinson Cano, Adrian Gonzalez and Jose Bautista have in common?  They’re All-Star baseball players and they’re Latinos.

The quartet also represented the American League in Monday’s Home Run Derby, with the Dominican Cano winning the long ball exhibition.

A year ago, you might have been surprised to hear that there would be any Latino ballplayers participating in the just-completed All-Star Game festivities.  There were calls for boycotts of the game and even to move the game somewhere else in response to Arizona’s Immigration Law.

In May 2010, I examined how Phoenix’s professional baseball and basketball teams took different communications game plans in response to the Immigration Law. 

The NBA’s Suns were very outspoken and put themselves in the eye of the storm by wearing “Los Suns” jerseys in their Western Conference semi-final round game #2 clash with the San Antonio Spurs. The Suns chose to wear the jerseys for the game that took place on Cinco de Mayo in 2010 “to honor our Latino community and the diversity of our league, the state of Arizona, and our nation." 

On the other hand, MLB’s Diamondbacks played the “Switzerland” card.  Citing the negative effect on the local economy -- which includes many Latino business owners -- much less its own coffers, the D-Backs operated under a business as usual approach and prepared to host the All-Star Game.

And host they did… very well according to many industry experts.  Not only was there very minimal coverage of the Immigration Law, but a prominent national media member told me that he never heard the subject brought up in the local media coverage or inside Chase Field.  According to NESN, the local Phoenix economy was expected to make $67 Million as a result of the All-Star festivities.

That’s a win for the Diamondbacks and the local business community.

The Diamondbacks understood that there was much to lose financially for being outspoken, but more importantly that Arizona’s citizens understood that the team was a solid community member that does the right thing by its community and fans.

source: Xenophon Strategies – PRGN member from USA