Open Letters From the National Football League, Concussion Prevention, and Image-Repair Rhetoric

Abstract

Open letters offer a unique focus for rhetorical analysis in sport communication, forming a message that is both interpersonal (the attempt to reflect dialogue through a letter writer and its recipients) and public (the “open” part of the open letter). The National Football League (NFL) attempted image repair when it used open letters to respond to accusations that it was not doing enough to protect athletes against devastating effects of concussions. Through the use of Benoit’s theory of image repair, the authors found that Commissioner Goodell’s open letters relied on 2 main image-repair strategies: reducing offensiveness and corrective action. They consider the implications of these rhetorical choices for the complicated merging areas of sport, communication, and health in the NFL’s open letters.

Analysis of FIFA’s Attempt at Image Repair

“…FIFA’s attempt to evade responsibility while using defeasibility and promising corrective action failed. Previous studies note that corrective action is effective when used in combination with admitting responsibility and mortification (Coombs, 2006; Meng & Pan, 2013) or with bolstering (Compton & Compton, 2015; Holtzhausen & Roberts, 2009). Worse still, FIFA refused to admit responsibility and proceeded to attack the accuser.…”

“…A few others have focused on sports fans as crisis communicators (Brown & Billings, 2013; Brown, Brown, & Billings, 2015). Sports image repair studies on organizations include those by Len-Rios (2010), Compton and Compton (2014), and Compton and Compton (2015). Image repair or apologia by athletes is different, in some ways, from organizational apologia.…”

“…Beyond studies by Len-Rios (2010), Compton and Compton (2014), and Compton and Compton (2015), a large number of image repair studies in sports focus on athletes. The first study we found on this subject was Nelson’s (1984) study of Billie Jean King’s defense of her love affair with her personal secretary, Marilyn Barnett.…”

“…Work on sporting organizations has also reached similar conclusions. Compton and Compton’s (2015) work on the National Football League found effective use of multiple strategies, particularly bolstering and corrective action.…”

“…While they based their qualitative analyses on Benoit’s theory, they rarely provide data to support their conclusions. For instance, studies by Barnett (2008), Brazeal (2008), Fortunato (2008), Sanderson (2008), Compton and Compton (2014), and Compton and Compton (2015), all used this type of qualitative case method to apply IRT to different athletes’ attempts to repair their image.…”