NBA “Air Ball”: Law of Crisis PR Rules as Tim Donaghy Referee Scandal Dies Slow Death

National Basketball Association Commissioner, David Stern, was right on the money when he stated last Thursday in a court filing that dealing with the allegations of embattled former referee Tim Donaghy against the NBA and referees in the league was “an unwelcome study in crisis management.”

In the filing, the NBA requested Donaghy repay the league “$1,395,104.89 for the games he bet on or provided information about and the legal cost of investigating [Donaghy’s] crimes,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. This was the latest development in a messy crisis that has smeared both the NBA’s and Donaghy’s reputation.

While Stern gets major kudos from being responsive and not shying away from the media throughout this ongoing fiasco, there have been missed opportunities to cast the NBA in a positive light. In fact, the NBA’s crisis management tactics has pretty much resorted to denials and name-calling. This tactic has only dug a bigger and deeper negative publicity hole. What has been said about preventing this debacle from repeating itself? Not much.

Here is an opportunity, just like with the Duke Lacrosse scandal, for powerful institutions to fix damaged ethics systems and use the process as models for improvements. It’s a quantum leap of sorts that fulcrums bad publicity into a platform to be an innovator, an ethical icon.

Also, Stern states that the NBA embraces transparency yet offers no explanation as to why Donaghy could have gotten away with fixing games dating back to the 2002 playoffs. Actually, all he managed to tell Sports Illustrated was “we are in the process of formulating our own assuredness, if we possibly can, that nothing like Donaghy will happen again. But if it does, it won’t be because we fell short in our efforts to make sure it didn’t.”

As Stern knows, the scandal is far from over. And it’s the sort that doesn’t help the game one bit not if Stern wants basketball to remain relevant compared to the NFL or even MLB. It looks like it’s going to be a long trek even after Donaghy’s sentencing on July 24.

However, here’s what Stern and the rest of us can glean now from a new playbook:

a) A crisis need not always be perceived as a doomsday episode. It can also be a time for redefinition and rejuvenation; it depends on how the crisis is handled. Stern should have used (and can still use) this opportunity to highlight the positive steps the NBA has taken to prevent game fixes from recurring, especially if the NBA really does prohibit such actions.

b) Don’t use a scandal to apologize for future scandals especially when you’re maintaining that your organization did nothing wrong; it’s condescending to your audience. Acknowledge any responsibility you can in the matter and share steps you are taking to fix the problem not offer a disclaimer that mistakes are inevitable.

We are interested in your thoughts.