Case STUDIES

Volume 5 Case Study 1

http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/cssm.2015-0010

IN SPORT MANAGEMENT

Live From Nassau Mausoleum:

Reactive Strategies at a Major Sports Arena
Nicholas Hirshon and Craig Davis
Ohio University
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a sports and entertainment arena in Long Island, New York, encountered
a public relations challenge in the 1990s. Nassau Coliseum, one of a few high-capacity venues in the New
York metropolitan area, hosted the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League and concerts featuring headliners such as the Grateful Dead, New Kids on the Block, and Frank Sinatra. Nevertheless, the arena
became a target for the worlds first all-sports radio station, WFAN 660 AM in New York City. WFAN hosts
perpetuated the image of a dreary Nassau Mausoleum with dim lighting, long bathroom and concession lines,
and a leaky roof. By placing students in the decision-making situation that confronted the Nassau Coliseum
executives, this case explores various approaches to reputation management at sports venues.
Keywords: sports marketing, facilities management, reputation management, image building, crisis management

Background
In the spring of 2015, tickets for Billy Joels final concert at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum sold out in less than
five minutes (Gamboa, 2015). Joel, an American pianist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, had
played 31 shows over his career at Nassau Coliseum, a high-capacity arena in Long Island, New York, best known for
hosting the NHLs New York Islanders for four decades. Joels farewell show on August 4, 2015, marked the last event
at Nassau Coliseum before it closed for a major downsizing in the wake of the Islanders relocation to a new arena in
Brooklyn.
For years, Nassau Coliseum management tried to book concerts, ice shows, and wrestling matches amid media criticism about the arenas poor condition. With its reputation permanently sullied, the Coliseum eventually closed its doors.
Public relations is an integral part of the arena business, and sports executives commonly make assessments and
decisions about responding to negative media coverage. In the summer of 2015, the organizers of the French Open
contended with a security breach involving a fan jumping from the stands to the court to take a selfie with Roger Federer
and an accident in which a section of sheet metal blew off the Roland Garros Stadium in high winds and injured a
spectator (Associated Press, 2015; Clarey, 2015). In 2014, fans and players for the Saskatchewan Roughriders football
team were stung by wasps at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field (CBC News, 2014). Meanwhile, Intrust Bank Arena, a
15,000-seat multipurpose arena in Wichita, Kansas, battled criticism that management was booking only country shows,
not hip-hop or R&B performers (Neil, 2014).
At Nassau Coliseum, the Billy Joel concert capped more than two decades of perception problems. Starting in the
1990s, management endured negative comments by New York City sports radio hosts. This case examines two main
questions: How should arena management address public relations problems caused by the media? Considering the
circumstances, what was the best response for Nassau Coliseums managers?

Nicholas Hirshon and Craig Davis are with the Journalism Department, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. Address author correspondence to Nicholas Hirshon at nickhirshon@gmail.com.
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2Hirshon and Davis

Public Relations Theory

In Public Relations: The Basics, Ron Smith (2013) provided a framework for thinking through reputation management
problems.
Sports managers can consider various approaches. The first is to be proactive by planning and initiating contact
with the media. Proactive approaches include using audience engagement or research to assess the communitys feelings
about an arena. Adapting the organization to meet public concerns is a preemptive strategy of reputation management.
A second approach is to respond directly to influences and opportunities. See Exhibit 1. A reactive strategy
involves seven possibilities. Preemptive action includes presenting advance information when bad news is inevitable.
Offensive response action describes attacking accusations claiming maliciousness or negligence. A defense response
entails denying a problem exists, justifying a problem, or making an excuse. A diversionary response includes ways
in which an organization tries to divert attention from a problem by making concessions, disassociation, or relabeling.
Vocal commiseration involves ways in which an organization expresses empathy and understanding about misfortune.
Concern, condolence, or apology are part of this strategy. Rectifying behavior is looking into the cause of a problem
and often involves a change of heart or change of policy. Finally, the last reactive strategy, strategic silence, involves
deliberate inaction.

Introduction
Lance Elder had had enough. The general manager of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (hereafter, Nassau Coliseum),
kept hearing the same thing on the radio (personal communication, December 27, 2013). Elder shared his reactive
strategy with the Coliseums marketing director, Hilary Hartung. Hilary, we gotta do something with this guy because
hes killing us, Elder said. I dont know what the answer is, but we need to stop him.
Elder was referring to Mike Francesa, who cohosted the popular afternoon drive show on the local sports radio
station, WFAN 660 AM. Francesa was ranting about deteriorating conditions at Nassau Coliseum on the 50,000-watt
station that blistered across the New York metropolitan area (Gullifor, 2006). Coliseum management acknowledged
that Francesa was accurate in most of his criticism. The lighting was dim, the lines for the bathrooms and concessions
were too long, and temporary sealants and tape patched a leaky roof (Lapointe, 1998). In his role as general manager,
however, Elder worried that Francesas incessant griping to a mass audience would not bode well for attendance at
Coliseum events.

Background
As the only major arena on Long Island, Nassau Coliseum ranked among the nations top venues for sports and entertainment heading into the 1990s. As the decade began, the Coliseum was hosting its anchor tenant, the National Hockey
Leagues (NHLs) New York Islanders; a lacrosse team; and some of the worlds highest-grossing concerts featuring

Exhibit 1 Reactive Strategy: Refresher and Overview

1

Preemptive Action

Organization provides advance information defending itself before bad news occurs.

Offensive Response

Organization operates from a position of strength with shock, threat, embarrassment, or attack.

Defensive Response

Organization denies or provides an excuse or justification.

Diversionary Response

Organization offers a concession or disassociation, or relabels the problem.

Vocal Commiseration

Organization shows concern, condolence, or regret, or offers an apology.

Rectifying Behavior

Organization says it is investigating the problem, offering corrective action, restitution, or repentance.

Deliberate Inaction

Organization is completely silent or ambiguous.

Source: Ron Smith, Public Relations: The Basics, 2013.

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Reactive Strategies at a Major Sports Arena 3

the likes of the Grateful Dead, New Kids on the Block, Rod Stewart, and Frank Sinatra (Hirshon, 2010; Ratliff, 1991a,
1991b). Sports commentators lauded the arenas sightlines as among the best in the NHL (Botte & Hahn, 2002, p. 80).
But the Coliseum faced a serious public relations challenge as the decade continued. The arena, which had not
been significantly renovated since opening in 1972, started to show some warts. A New York Times reporter spotted
garbage bags and trash cans strewn about the Islanders locker room to catch water dripping from a leaky pipe (Lapointe,
1993). At the same time, the Islanders, winners of four straight Stanley Cup titles in the early 1980s, began to falter
(Hirshon, 2010). Sports radio called attention to these shortcomings. Three hosts on WFAN 660 AM ripped the arena
and perpetuated the dreary image of a Nassau Mausoleum.

WFAN
WFANs stable of talk radio talent was highlighted by morning shock jock Don Imus (Imus in the Morning), afternoon
drive cohost Mike Francesa (Mike and the Mad Dog, with Chris Mad Dog Russo), and journeyman Steve Somers,
who mostly worked overnight shifts but also had occasional daytime forays between Imus and Francesa (Gullifor,
2006; Sullivan, 2013).
Imus led WFANs Imus in the Morning from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on weekdays (Sandomir, 1993). As of 1991,
Imus reached more male listeners earning at least $100,000 than any other morning talk show host (Douglas, 1999, p.
306). By 1995, he had two million listeners a day (Kurtz, 1995), and the next year he ranked nationally behind only
Howard Stern in the treasured 25-to-54 male demographic (Lu, 1996).
Francesa also emerged as a dominant radio personality in the early 1990s, cohosting WFANs weekday afternoon
drive show from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. with Russo (Sandomir, 1997). Mike and the Mad Dog, which had debuted on September 5, 1989, became New Yorks top-rated afternoon drive show in the spring of 1990 and remained the top-rated
program among male listeners age 25 to 54 in the New York market during its time period for years (Murphy, 1996;
Sandomir, 1997; Sullivan, 2013).
During this time, Somers forged an identity on the overnight shifts as a beloved figure who was too unique to go
unnoticed (Sullivan, 2013, p. 89). A local TV station would later crown him one of the most recognizable voices in
New York (Mishkin, 2010), and his knack for clever, rhyme-filled monologues won over the likes of actor Charles
Grodin, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and film critic Gene Shalit (McGrath, 2012).
WFAN became a powerful bully pulpit. Audiences snatched up books that Imus plugged, single-handedly creating
best-sellers (Douglas, 1999, p. 308). Francesa, too, was believed to hold sway. Soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, Francesa and Russo suggested on air that the hijackers were motivated by U.S. support for Israel (Gullifor,
2006). The Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to WFAN reporting that the organization had been flooded with calls
complaining about the hosts comments and asking for an explanation (Foxman, 2001). Those callers must have feared
that WFANs audiences trusted Francesa.

Nassau Mausoleum
Throughout the 1990s, Imus, Francesa, and Somers all made unflattering remarks on the air about Nassau Coliseum
(L. Elder, personal communication, December 27, 2013). Somers, in particular, popularized the moniker Nassau
Mausoleum (S. Somers, personal communication, December 10, 2013). A mausoleum is defined as a large gloomy
building or room, with gloomy meaning somewhat dark and causing feelings of sadness. Somers said that he also
labeled the arena a barn and played farm noises on the air to accentuate the differences between the Islanders, skating in suburban Nassau County, and their archrivals, the big-city Rangers, who play at fabled Madison Square Garden.
An unabashed Rangers fan, Somers referred to the Islanders as the Icelanders, and to Long Island as Short Island.
Even though the Coliseum needed upgrading, the hosts most stinging criticismlikening the building to a gloomy
mausoleumcontrasted with how others perceived the arena. Visitors have long hailed the Coliseum for its comfortable
seating, with upholstered theatre-style chairs [that had] completely unobstructed views at every seat (Botte & Hahn,
2002, p. 78). For hockey, the Coliseum offered terrific vantage points that impressed Clarence Campbell, the NHL
president at the time of its construction: The thing I was most enthusiastic about is that it has excellent sightlines (Botte
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4Hirshon and Davis

& Hahn, 2002, p. 80). According to Pat Calabria, the Islanders vice president of communications from 1992 to 1998,
There wasnt a better place to watch hockey (personal communication, December 10, 2013). Even by 1998, no less
an authority than the New York Times called the Coliseum one of the best arenas to catch an NHL game, comparing
its intimacy to two fabled baseball stadiums, Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago (Lapointe, 1998).
Commentators also applauded the Coliseums throwback feel and the [crowd] energy it produced because of the low
ceiling and tightness of the seating in respect to the playing surface (Botte & Hahn, 2002, p. 85).
The Coliseum was also luring headlining acts in the 1990s. Over a one-year period starting in December 1990,
the venue reported three of the top-100 highest-grossing concerts in the world: the Grateful Dead at No. 40, with three
sellouts reaping more than $1.1 million; Rod Stewart at No. 71, and New Kids on the Block at No. 84 (Ratliff, 1991b).
See Exhibit 2. Performances by Stewart, Frank Sinatra, and Morrissey gave the Coliseum three of the top-19 highestgrossing concerts on the planet in a single week in November 1991 (Ratliff, 1991a). The Coliseum also proved fertile
ground for the American Gladiators, a touring show of muscle-bound athletes competing in physical challenges, which
enjoyed its second-highest-grossing event of 1991 at the arena (American Gladiators Live Tour). An annual summer fair
held in the Coliseum parking lot drew 200,000 Long Islanders in 1991, up 23% from the previous year (Fingersh, 1991).
Although the Coliseum roof leaked in the 1990s, such incidents were not unusual for major sports venues of the
era. In 1986, a steady flow of rain through the roof of the Seattle Center Coliseum forced the first rainout of an indoor
National Basketball Association game (Evans, 2002). A decade later in 1998, rain leaked through a roof above the
upper deck at Yankee Stadium in New York and drenched fans (Kennedy, 1998). Far more dangerous incidents also
occurred. In 1991, a 55-ton beam collapsed at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, forcing Major League Baseballs Expos
to reschedule games (Deckard, 1991; Newcomb, 2013). In 1994, 26-pound acoustic ceiling tiles crashed onto vacant
seats at the Kingdome in Seattle right before gates opened for a Mariners baseball game (Egan, 1994; Newcomb, 2013).
In 1998, a loose 500-pound beam at Yankee Stadium obliterated an empty seat below, leading the Yankees to postpone
games (Kennedy, 1998). Nothing so dangerous ever occurred at Nassau Coliseum to have sparked such vicious criticism from the WFAN hosts (Botte & Hahn, 2002, p. 76).

Public Relations Strategy and Tactics

Several years before WFAN launched in 1987, Elder recognized Imuss influence as a host at WFANs predecessor
at 1050 AM, WNBC (L. Elder, personal communication, December 27, 2013; Sullivan, 2013, p. 21). (Note: WFAN
debuted at 1050 AM and moved to 660 AM a year later.) Tasked to promote boxing and wrestling at the Coliseum on
a paltry advertising budget, Elder sent posters for key matches to Imus, hoping he would mention the upcoming events
on air. The strategy worked. In 1980, Imus came to the Coliseum for closed-circuit coverage of a boxing match between
Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran, live from Olympic Stadium in Montreal (The Big Money Behind Fridays Big
Fight). In the days preceding the bout, Imus talked up the Coliseum viewing event on air and helped drive ticket sales.
Elder sent a limo to pick up Imus the day of the fight, and the pair dined and watched the action together, a preemptive
approach to reputation management.

Exhibit 2 Nassau Coliseum in the Top-100 Grossing Concerts, Dec. 1990

to Dec. 1991
Headliner

Gross Ticket
Sales

40

Grateful Dead

$1,166,316

71

Rod Stewart

$ 909,400

84

New Kids on the Block, Biscuit, Brenda K. Starr, George Lamond

$ 804,800

Rank

Source: Ratliff, M. (1991b, December 23). Top 100 boxscores: Concert industry faces the music in 91can
it recover in 92? Amusement Business, pp. 1822.

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Reactive Strategies at a Major Sports Arena 5

Imus maintained a relationship with Coliseum management throughout the decade. In between Elders stints at
the arena, another general manager, Carl Hirsh, called Imus to promote events (C. Hirsh, personal communication,
February 28, 2014). Hirsh, who ran the Coliseum from the fall of 1987 to the spring of 1988, said he was even invited
to WNBCs Christmas party, where Imus greeted him warmly. But the tenor on air was changing. While Imus would
allow Hirsh to hawk Coliseum events, he would also call Hirsh fat and end their calls by playing an explosion sound
effect to nuke him.
By the 1990s, Francesa, too, began to criticize the Coliseum. Although Elder implored Coliseum Marketing Director Hilary Hartung to persuade Francesa to stop badmouthing the arena, he was concerned that confronting the man
with the microphone could boomerang:
With guys like Mike, the thing that can happen is, if you call them up and you say, You gotta knock this off, it
makes it worse in theory. He doesnt care about us, about the Coliseum, or anything else. . . . If you confronted
anybody that was making misstatements or incorrect statements or anything like that, its potentially a real rocket,
just waiting to light it up. It can absolutely, totally backfire. (L. Elder, personal communication, December 27, 2013)
When Francesa visited the Coliseum for an early round of the 1994 NCAA Mens Basketball Championships,
Hartung made her movea diversionary response (H. Hartung, personal communication, December 9, 2013). She
recalled that Francesa had often called the Coliseum a white elephant, an idiom referring to something that requires
a lot of care and money but does not offer much profit or enjoyment. Ironically, a circus promoter had recently passed
through Long Island and dropped off stuffed animals for Hartung, including a white elephant. Hartung turned the toy
into a peace offering. She handed it to Francesa and told him, I wish you wouldnt call the building a white elephant
anymore. Francesa accepted the gift but continued to poke fun at the arena on his show. Im not sure that it did anything positive, Elder said. I dont think. But it was a good attempt at trying to calm him down.
The Islanders, meanwhile, tried to sway Somers. Somers recalled that Ginger Killian Serby, the Islanders media
relations director, took another preemptive approach and sent him gifts and took him to lunch to persuade him to stop
calling them the Icelanders and to stop calling it the Nassau Mausoleum on Short Island. But Somers never let
up, and discontent reached the highest rungs of Islanders management. In the summer of 1996, Somers agreed to play
against Islanders players and coaches in a charity softball game in Massapequa Park, Long Island (Herrmann, 1996).
As Somers stepped up to the plate, the Islanders player who was pitching suddenly feigned injury. In came his replacement, Islanders General Manager Mike Milbury, a hot-tempered former hockey player who apparently took exception
to Somerss act. Milbury buzzed Somers with a knockdown pitch.
Chris Botta, another Islanders public relations executive, also thought that Somers had gone too far in bashing
the Coliseum (Botta, 2008; C. Botta, personal communication, February 21, 2014). Botta was perturbed when Somers
said that WFAN was about to air live coverage of a major press conference at the Nassau Coliseum on July 26,
1996 (Zipay, 1996). According to Botta, fans and reporters began calling the Coliseum to ask about the nature of the
announcement. The Islanders actually had nothing to announce, and Somers was merely setting up a bit poking fun
at the team. With crickets chirping, Somerss producer, Eddie Scozzare, pretended he was presiding over an Islanders
press conference that only two fans had bothered to attend (Zipay, 1996). When Botta called Somers to complain, the
host said he did not believe listeners would take him seriously enough to call the team. He clearly had no clue of the
power of a 50,000-watt radio station in the nations biggest market, Botta wrote on his blog.
Elder also disliked Somerss act. Interestingly, Somers, the host most associated with Nassau Mausoleum, said
he has been to the Coliseum only a couple times in his life, for IslandersRangers games between 1987 and 1990.
Thats always been a bugaboo with me, Elder said. If youre going to talk about something, have some knowledge
and background. And if he was really interested and if he really felt that it was what he claimed it to be, then hed call
up and well take you on a tour, well show you what the positive aspects of the building are, and well talk about all
those things. But that never happened. Elder wanted to take a preemptive approach with Somers.
The sports radio commentary presented serious difficulties for Nassau Coliseum management. The hosts criticisms
were mostly legitimate, and major repairs would cost far more than Elders budget allowed. But Elder had an obligation to manage the arenas reputation. It was problematic for us because the risks versus rewards were probably split

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6Hirshon and Davis

right down the middle, Elder said. And I was really concerned about it. So what we tried to do was just keep peoples
perception of the building in a positive vein and do all the things that we could do in a positive way and just let it float
out there. What am I going to do? Im going to fight a guy who says, Oh, the buildings old, the building needs a paint
job? Well, maybe those things are true. In this case, Elder decided to take deliberate inaction.
The WFAN barbs never ceased, and soon the Islanders witnessed severe drops in attendance. See Exhibit 3. Months
after Hartung handed the white elephant to Francesa, the Islanders embarked on the 19951996 season, which drew
the worst average attendance in franchise history (El-Bashir, 1999). Certainly the Islanders on-ice struggles affected
fan turnout (Regular season attendance for NHLs Wales Conference). Still, statistics suggest that losing alone did not
account for lower attendance at the 16,265-capacity Coliseum. In 1990, for instance, the Islanders finished seven games
below .500 at 313811, with just 73 points, yet had an average attendance of 13,117 (New York Islanders franchise
index; Regular season attendance for NHLs Wales Conference). Meanwhile, in the Islanders best season of the decade
in 19921993, the team sported a 40377 record with 87 points but averaged only 12,036 fans, an 8% drop from
19891990 (New York Islanders franchise index; New York Islanders yearly attendance graph). In addition, the Islanders
had the same number of wins in both the 19981999 and 19992000 seasons (New York Islanders franchise index), but
average attendance slid nearly 14%, from 11,299 to 9,748 (New York Islanders yearly attendance graph), and the ranks
of season-ticket holders dipped almost 17%, from 4,200 to 3,500 (El-Bashir, 1999). See Exhibit 4.
Eventually, even the Islanders ridiculed Nassau Coliseum. In the fall of 1998, the team sought a legal order to pull
out 17 years early from its lease by alleging that the hoist systems supporting the above-ice scoreboard and sound system
were faulty (Curtis, 1998). By most accounts, the Islanders, like the WFAN hosts before them, were exaggerating the
Coliseums ills. At the time, the Islanders were desperate to wiggle out of an unbeneficial lease in which the team did
not receive any share of parking revenue or concession sales and was required to cede 11% of ticket sales before taxes
and 40% of revenues from arena signs (Strugatch, 2004). In legal papers, Nassau County, which owned the Coliseum,
criticized the Islanders for making totally false accusations about the buildings safety, contending the teams allegations existed merely as an excuse out of an unfavorable contractual agreement (Curtis, 1998, p. 42).

Exhibit 3 New York Islanders yearly attendance 19722013. Source: New York Islanders Yearly Attendance Graph. Retrieved
from http://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=7085
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Reactive Strategies at a Major Sports Arena 7

Exhibit 4: Average Attendance of NHL Teams, 199192

Average
Attendance

City

Team Name

19,723

Detroit

Red Wings

19,719

Calgary

Flames

17,770

Chicago

Blackhawks

17,518

St. Louis

Blues

17,140

Philadelphia

Flyers

16,904

New York

Rangers

16,590

Washington

Capitals

16,179

Edmonton

Oilers

16,005

Los Angeles

Kings

15,993

Pittsburgh

Penguins

15,518

Toronto

Maple Leafs

15,461

Vancouver

Canucks

15,392

Buffalo

Sabres

14,274

Boston

Bruins

13,977

Quebec

Nordiques

13,447

Minnesota

North Stars

12,991

Winnipeg

Jets

10,888

San Jose

Sharks

10,832

Hartford

Whalers

10,039

New York

Islanders

New Jersey

Devils

Unavailable

Source: National Hockey League Attendance. (1992, May 25). Amusement Business, p. 13.

Pat Calabria, who was no longer running public relations for the Islanders, questioned the teams motives in a
2013 interview: No question, it was a terrible strategy, and it was a lie. . . . I can explain the issue about the hoist to
you in very simple terms. The hoist was safe (personal communication, December 10, 2013). A state judge ruled in
the countys favor and granted an injunction requiring the Islanders to play at the Coliseum (Curtis, 1998, p. 43). Still,
the arenas reputation had taken another hit. If you say its a dump and youre the prime tenant, then I think its going
to have an adverse effect, Elder said. I think [the Islanders] drove it. I think they started to hear it, whether it be from
Mike [Francesa] or whoever, that its a white elephant, its a mausoleum, its all of these things, and they jumped
on that bandwagon.

Aftermath
The Coliseum landed fewer and fewer headliners as the decade wore on. The arena all but vanished from the weekly
rankings of top-grossing concerts in the trade publication Amusement Business. It also capped the millennium on a
sour note: Incredibly, on a night when just about every major venue in the country hosted some kind of celebration
event with headline acts, the Coliseum was locked and dark on New Years Eve 1999 (Botte & Hahn, 2002, p. 93)
See Exhibit 5.
Today the Nassau Mausoleum moniker is common in sports vernacular. Somers continues to use the phrase on
air, and it has also appeared in the vaunted pages of the New York Times (Lapointe, 1998; Finn, 1999) and in tweets
by an ESPN sports business reporter (Rovell, 2012) and sports radio personalities from as far away as Philadelphia
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8Hirshon and Davis

Exhibit 5 Timeline of Events Affecting the Reputation of Nassau Coliseum

Date

Development

1972

Coliseum opens

19801983

Islanders win four straight Stanley Cup championships

1987

WFAN, the worlds first all-sports radio station, debuts in New York market

19871988

WFAN host Don Imus begins nuking the Coliseums general manager

19901991

Coliseum hosts three of the worlds top-100 highest-grossing arena concerts

1994

WFAN host Mike Francesa labels Coliseum a white elephant

19951996

Islanders witness worst average attendance in team history

1996

WFAN host Steve Somers, who coined Nassau Mausoleum, catches heat from Islanders

1998

First appearance of Nassau Mausoleum in New York Times

1999

Coliseum locked and dark on New Years Eve 1999

(Bruno, 2013), Pittsburgh (Fillipponi, 2013), and Houston (Saunders, 2013). Fittingly, fans of the rival Rangers stuck
the moniker on derogatory T-shirts to tweak the Islanders (New Sec. 406 Shirt: Nassau Mausoleum).
Once you get a label, it is really hard to shake it, Calabria said. The media attaches the label to the arena, and it
wont let go of it. So while it was fair on many occasions to chide the franchise with the phrase Nassau Mausoleum,
there were many nights when that simply wasnt the case.
In the 1990s, the general manager of Nassau Coliseum faced troubling questions: Should he ignore the ribbing
by sports radio hosts, hoping they would eventually stop? Or should the arena confront heavyweights in the New York
sports media scene, trying not to anger them and risk even more on-air barbs? Could the general manager have reversed
the Coliseums downward slide and maintained its status among the busiest venues for sports and entertainment by
implementing an ongoing reputation management process?

Discussion Question
With the Coliseums reputation spiraling downward, Elder felt powerless. Looking back at the reputation issue
that Elder faced, what is the best reactive strategy to address this situation?

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Reactive Strategies at a Major Sports Arena 9

Egan, T. (1994, August 26). A dome for all seasons, but not for all time. New York Times, p. A14.
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