16W Marketing co-Founder Frank Vuono brings over three decades of sports industry experience to his discussion with Terry Lefton. He talks about the upside down nature of the sports world, gives a glimpse into the PR challenges faced by testing labs and weighs in on the upcoming NFL season.
On what 16W Marketing is doing for their client, Quest Diagnostics, which provides COVID-19 testing:
Vuono: We have been a liaison with them to the professional sports world in the U.S. for the last seven years. Quest currently tests privately 52 professional sports teams across all the majors ... and this latest go-around was in particular specific to COVID-19 testing and trying to get the leagues back on their feet and playing again. So we wrote a lot of protocols, we had a lot of dialogue with all the professional leagues and played a role -- I can’t say too much specifically more about that -- in their development of their testing protocols.
On the balancing act of getting a marketing message out while respecting the privacy of medical/healthcare concerns:
Vuono: There’s an incredible sensitivity obviously with his pandemic about athletes potentially jumping the line, as they call it, in terms of getting ahead of priority testing for people that have been diagnosed or frontline workers and so on. ... Quest is particularly careful about that, as all the labs have been and all the leagues have been. They’ve been very sensitive to that so anyone out there in the public who thinks that the athletes are jumping ahead of anybody are really misled. All the labs have been very particular about making sure that there are enough tests for those in need.
On whether the NFL will be able to play the entire season this year:
Vuono: Even though I’m an optimist, I don’t know if I can go as far as likely. I think possible. Again, it really depends on the players and the personnel that are involved. It really depends on their observances of the safety protocols, so I think it’s possible. The leagues going into a bubble have a great advantage and a much more likely scenario for completing their playoffs and so on, the NBA and the NHL. It’s going to be difficult for the NFL, and there are going to be a lot of questions relative to what’s the protocol if someone is tested positive, and what if it’s a star player.
