BCS hires Ari Fleischer's PR firm

This was sent to me - you'd think maybe the release would include that he was Bush's press secretary?



Haven't seen anything anywhere on SportsJournalists.com but the BCS has hired Fleischer Communications as its PR firm. As in Ari Fleischer, Bush's press secretary. Of course, in the 251-word press release sent out Friday afternoon (of course) there's no mention of the high-profile job once handled by Mr. Fleischer.

And here's a link to the Twitter site that has all the potshots fired at the BCS via Tweets.
http://twitter.com/search?q=insidethebcs#search?q=insidethebcs

And the Fleischer hiring release:


Bill Hancock, the Executive Director of the BCS, today announced that the BCS is working with the sports communications firm, Ari Fleischer Communications, to bring focus to the fact that the BCS is the best format to match up college football’s number one and two teams, while preserving the heritage and success of the bowl system.

“I’m proud of the BCS,” Hancock said, “and we have a great event that’s worth promoting. For too long, we weren’t as pro-active as we could have been and we’re determined to demonstrate why the BCS format is the best. Ari has extensive, high-level communications experience in the world of sports and we’re delighted to bring him on board.”

Fleischer’s company will work directly with Hancock and commissioners of the 11 conferences as part of a pro-active plan to tell the story of the BCS’s success, especially given the fact that attendance, television viewership, fan interest and revenues are at all-time highs.

"I’m honored to be able to help the BCS group,” said Fleischer. “They’ve done so much for college football and they have a great story to tell. The BCS has its share of critics, but I believe once people see the facts on both sides of this debate, there will be a growing recognition that the BCS format works best, with more consensus than any specific alternative proposal.”

Fleischer’s sports work has included or includes seven National Football League teams, Major League Baseball, the United States Olympic Committee, Penske Auto Racing and others.

 

Really good article about why Fleischer made this transition from the Wash Post a while ago:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072102948.html

It says that he got the idea when Sandy Montag from IMG cold called him at the white house because he was watching C Span and noticed that Fleischer used a lot of sports metaphors. Has an anecdote about him meeting with major league rookies in 2002 for a presentation on dealing with the media, too...

My understanding is that his sports consultancy firm works with athletes and organizations more on the "how to deal with media" side of things than as a fire fighter when there are PR problems. I'm sure that is not all there is to it. Just like anyone else who goes through the revolving door, he probably has garnered a lot of work because he has a a lot of politically-connected people on speed dial. That is not a bad "skill" to have, which is why former high-level government workers and elected officials often become wealthy as consultants and lobbyists.