Chicago 2016: The Biggest PR Failure in a Generation

Chicago will not host the Olympic Games in 2016. While there is much blame to spread around, I believe there are critical lessons to be learned from the mismanagement of the public relations message in the days leading up to the final bid in Denmark.

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of lecturing on Crisis Communications to a Corporate Communication class at the University of St. Francis. Part of my presentation discussed the need to manage expectations. As I finished my presentation, I asked the students who they would fault for the unsuccessful bid by Chicago for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

“Obama,” one student said. Others agreed quickly.

“What about Mayor Daley,” I asked. No takers.

“Oprah?” Still no takers.

“What about the public relations team for the U.S. Olympic Committee?”

The lights started to switch on. “Oh, yeah, managing expectations!”

Back Story: I Want My USOC-TV

In July, 2009, the United States Olympic Committee announced their plan for a cable television channel dedicated solely to the Olympic Movement. The channel, to be carried by Comcast, would program around-the-clock and on-demand content from Olympic and Paralympics Games.

At the time, I expressed my belief that the move made sense.

With the Major League Baseball network earning 20 to 30 cents per subscriber per month, and the National Football League network earning 75 cents to $1.10 per subscriber, it doesn’t surprise me that the United States Olympic Committee plans to enter the cable television market next year.

Now we learn that profit sharing, or rather the lack of profit sharing as the case may be, was at the center of a rift between the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee. Chicago’s bid might have been a finalist had the Americans been willing to spread the wealth around.

The USOC has been locked in a bitter dispute for years with the IOC over its share of revenues from U.S. TV rights deals and global sponsorship agreements. Based on long-standing contracts, USOC’s share of revenues from these IOC deals has been bigger than all 200-plus other national Olympic committees put together.

The IOC insisted on a revision of these deals at a time when many federations and Olympic committees were feeling the credit crunch, a change the USOC vehemently opposed.

The USOC raised tensions further in August when it announced plans for an Olympic TV network without consulting the IOC. After an angry response from the IOC, the USOC put those plans on hold.

As Deep Throat said in All the President’s Men, “Follow the Money.”

A Poorly Managed Set of Expectations

In the days leading up to the final presentations before the International Olympic Committee, most Americans believed that Chicago would be a finalist. As the decision drew closer and closer, nearly everyone thought that Chicago might even take the prize. The only thing the Chicago bid needed to produce was a personal appeal by the President and the Games were ours.

But Chicago lost in the first round.

The immediate political response was to blame the President, First Lady, Oprah Winfrey, and Mayor Daley. Too much American arrogance, Conservatives shouted. Too much war, Liberals countered.

I say, too much in the way of expectation. And for that, we must blame the people who manage those expectations, the public relations professionals.

Let’s say you’re an attorney on a zoning issue. Tonight, your client’s issue is set for the final vote. If you are worth your salt, you have a feeling, based upon your work with the city’s zoning attorney, whether or not you will get the approval your client seeks. If you believe the petition will be denied, you will manage your client’s expectations. This is something the USOC did not do.

The public relations professionals, especially when the President decided to board Air Force One to make a personal pitch for the Games, should have kicked into overdrive in order to let the American press know that there was a chance of failure.

They should have said, “Hey, look, Chicago’s got a good bid. The President is doing his best to help, but we’re having some problems. Some of the International Committee isn’t happy with us for reasons outside our bid. This isn’t in the bag.”

Had the USOC communicated that simple message, the media wouldn’t have frothed themselves into a lather, and the public wouldn’t have been nearly as perplexed and confused as they were.

The Biggest Public Relations Failure in a Generation

The public relations management of the Chicago 2016 final bid was the biggest public relations failure in a generation. Not only did they allow runaway expectations by the general public, they set up a particularly stunning embarrassment for the President of the United States. I don’t care what your politics are (I am a Republican), as public relations professionals it is our job to mitigate damage to our clients. We don’t set up our CEO for failure. We don’t ignore rumor mills. We backchannel accurate information and help set realistic expectations.

A loss by Chicago would have been less embarrassing had some of the back-story been communicated to the press during the days and weeks before the final bid presentation. The President might have gone to Denmark anyway, but at least he would have been able to say, “I tried, but we knew…”

Here are other articles I have written on this topic:

• Read the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid Book
• What Is Strategic Communications?
• New Campaign for Will County Health Department
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 2: Your Message
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 1: Influenza Update
• Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Executive Summary
• Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Evaluation
• Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Key Messages
• How to Write a Strategic Communications Plan
• Why You Should Be Proactive with Bad News