Bounty Program:
The New Orleans Saints NFL team had established incentives for players in injure other teams star players during football matches. This gave New Orleans players increased incentives and bonuses for big hits. These large hits in turn would benefit the team with increased media exposure as well has an impact on results (wins/losses), as injuring an opposing team’s top player is of large advantage to the Saints during a game. The defense therefore strengthened because of these incentives.
Was this incentive program a program that demonstrated good moral ethics? Most definitely not. The Saints were severally punished when news broke out about this bounty program, and the consequences outweighed the benefits.
New Orleans player celebrating after a hit which injured an opponent.
The team was fined $500,000 dollars, had to lose a second round draft choice in 2012 and the head coach Sean Payton who knew about the bounty incentive program was suspended for the full 2012 season. The general manager received an 8 game suspension while the assistant coach was suspended for 6 games.
In the past the New Orleans Saints had a world class franchise that fans and other organizations looked up to. The work they did for the community after hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the success the franchise has had on the field since 2009 (which is when the program was said to be initiated) had given the franchise and amazing reputation, one amongst the top in the NFL. However, this ethics issue caused the team to receive not only terrible publicity but also suffering on the field. The team went from 13 wins, 3 losses and making the playoffs to 7 wins, 9 losses and not making playoffs the year following the incident. Franchise win/losses link per year.
The negative press experienced from the bounty program will be remembered by many for years and years to come. It is amazing how ethics issues do not show up on financial statements and are not correlated to a company’s assets but can have such a dramatic effect on a company’s success and image.
This is just one of many examples regarding ethics in business. Unfortunately it seems in today’s competitive business world people are willing to do anything for success. People need to be aware that short term success which infringes on proper morals and ethics can have a long term negative impact on a company.
The Saints marketing team and franchise has a lot of damage control to do after this incident and it will likely take a lot of community work and time to regain the positive image they once had.
