With Ari Fleischer on the college football payroll, the team never has to wait long for the next round of negative comments. They have an advertising consultant who specializes in generating negative publicity. Exactly the opposite of what you want.
Fleischer’s appearance as an officer at the Saudi-backed LIV Golf press conference on Tuesday was just the last emotional moment for a man who has never failed to work with the PSC. He has also appeared regularly as a political commentator on Fox News, which has caused some concern with the college athletics organization trying to stay apolitical. Then there is almost everything he has touched on about his role as a college football lawyer.
Fleischer was part of a doomed PR effort to save the Bowl series and avoid the playoffs – that should have been enough to separate him from any role in the sport’s next iteration, but no. Fleischer remained on board as a consultant for the CFP, proving that he is magically resilient in the sport’s playoff issue.
(It seems really hard to kick you out of the Old Boys who run college football.)
Fleischer has been associated with university football since the BCS era.
Amy Sussman / Getty Images
Whatever influence the former White House press secretary under George W. Bush had in the first seven years of the preliminary rounds seemed insignificant. It was only when failed plans to expand the play-offs from four to 12 teams were launched last year, when the June leak sadly surprised many of the conference delegates, everyone remembers that the CFP is a media adviser had. The chaos surrounding this expansion plan was enough to derail expansion for the foreseeable future.
CFP is inherently controversial – four teams personally selected by a selection committee out of 130 stand a chance of winning the National Championship. The playoffs made matters worse with a weekly TV show showing its rankings in the final third of the season, with his work mocked every Tuesday night. The list of affected limbs is long and noisy every season.
Why contribute to the accumulated criticism by creating an internal problem for yourself with a counselor like Fleischer? why be this man In the room with the most powerful people in college football when they make the big decisions?
Bill Hancock, CFP CEO Sports Illustrated Tuesday that Fleischer remain an advisor to the group. Hancock noted that Fleischer consults with a number of other entities outside the PCP and is not required to report to him on every assignment he undertakes. Neither Hancock nor many CCP leaders seem to have any idea what Fleischer can do exactly.
Role reading to continue
Taking Saudi government money has led to a massive setback in some of the world’s most prominent golfers, from the big winners Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson to Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer and more. They are willing to accept criticism for committing guns to a brutally oppressive regime for large salaries, and on Tuesday at Fleischer’s press conference they did their best to pretend there was no controversy.
When asked by golfer Liv Taylor Gotsch about Saudi Arabia’s “was of sport” for his inappropriate global image of human rights abuses, he replied: “I do not think that statement is true.” Then he tried to get out of this sandfall by portraying himself essentially as just a dumb golfer. “I’m not that smart,” Gooch said. “I try to hit a golf ball in a small hole. Golf is hard enough already. I’m trying to worry about golf and am excited about this week.
Fleischer apparently did his part to provide cover for poor millionaires who were asked about anything other than hitting a golf ball in a small hole. Associated Press reporter Rob Harris was reportedly interrupted and escorted out of the press conference after trying to ask a follow-up question about reconciling Saudi efforts to wash sports to buy positive impressions by buying golfers. Then he was allowed to return.
Harrig: Here’s a treat on the PGA Tour, and professional golf may never be the same.
This is a healthy business. Just good people trying to grow the game of golf.
Like golfers, Fleischer seems to have a price at which he can abandon his beliefs. By Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPNDuring the LIV press conference, Fleischer was asked: “How did he reconcile his current relationship with LIV Golf with his previous tweets claiming that Saudi Arabia spends billions to ensure that Mohammed bin Salman (n) does not leak, and it was not an example of that? ” Fleischer said the tweet It was “a very long time ago.”
One can assume that there are several dollars.
The combination of Ari Fleischer and sport apparently resulted in very little embarrassment, pitfalls and slaps. Why would the college want football to continue to push these nincombobs to help shape an annoying strategy such as unwillingness to extend the playoffs?
More games better. Less ari is also better. No Ari is the best.
More university football coverage: