JCOM 2300 Assignment 2

Press Release Link:

http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/news/grizzlies_trade_gasol_to_lakers-080201.html

This press release is from the Memphis Grizzlies basketball team announcing the traded their best player, Pau Gasol, to the Los Angeles Lakers.

News Article Links:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/feb/01/gasol-traded-lakers/

This first article is from the Commercial Appeal, a Memphis newspaper, announcing the story. For the most part it is a fairly positive story. It says how the Grizzlies were doing the trade to have financial flexibility in the future, which corresponds with what the press release says. It supports the what the organization was trying to get across to the media.

This is the kind of article the team wants the fan base to read. It offers them an explanation for getting rid of their best player.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/feb/02/gasol-for-what/

The second article is much less positive. It is an opinion article on the story from the Commercial Appeal. Geoff Calkins, who wrote the article, raises questions to the organization for making the trade, when they said they were committed to keeping Gasol just eight months prior.

This article is a negative hit for the Memphis Grizzlies, who would want their fan base to have the message to be patient and look forward to the future for the team. The article not only questions the trade, but also argues it doesn't make sense for the financial future of the team.

Project Overview

I wanted to do this assignment related to sports because I would love to be involved in the industry some day.

This particular topic was very interesting to me because as a sports fan it didn't make any sense to me. I don't understand the business logic behind it, or the basketball logic either. Especially since I hate the Lakers. The Grizzlies gave up their best player and got almost nothing back for him in return. So it was interesting to see how they wanted to sell that to their fan base.

I thought it was very interesting in the press release how the Grizzlies started out by listing what they got out of the trade. It didn't start out by saying they traded Pau Gasol, but rather that they had acquired Kwame Brown, Aaron McKee and two first round draft picks. Obviously they wanted the public to focus on what the positive aspects of what they were doing instead of the negative.

I think overall their press release was an effective one. I think their angle worked as well as it could, because it obviously wasn't an easy thing to sell. The first article, after all, did mention the reasons why the team was doing the trade. So they ended up getting some positive press from it. Obviously, there was going to be negative press involved because they were getting rid of the team's best player. In that regard, they couldn't completely sell their target audience on the deal.

However, I don't think they expected to be able to convince all of their fans this was a good deal. At least not right away. I think they wanted urge them to be patient, and I think they got that message across for the most part. Overall I would say it was a positive press release.