Crisis PR experts warn reputations that take decades to build can be destroyed in seconds. That’s the stark challenge facing Bill Belichick.

Ever since 24-year-old Jordon Hudson crashed his interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, the legendary coach has found himself in the eye of a media storm. Right or wrong, the picture is coalescing of Belichick as a besotted old man meekly taking orders from a bossy girlfriend 49 years his junior.  

Belichick can’t undo the brand damage from the cringey interview that was supposed to promote his new book, The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football. Ex-players like Ted Johnson are already saying he may not be fit to coach at UNC. Comedy shows like Saturday Night Live are savagely roasting the couple’s age gap. But the six-time Super Bowl winner can try to mitigate the fallout on Bill Belichick Inc. I talked to three top crisis PR experts for their advice, and emerged from those conversations with seven ways Belichick can try to rebuild his fraying reputation—and legacy.

1. Stick to football: For decades, the former Patriots coach brusquely dismissed all non-football questions as distractions. His curt “We’re on to Cincinnati” answer was a perfect summation of his single-minded focus. Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary to George W. Bush and current media consultant, tells Front Office Sports the coach should follow his own advice.

“He blew it and now he’s stuck. If he had prepared for an obvious question with a halfway-decent answer, this would now be a non-issue,” says Fleischer, who’s consulted for the NFL, MLB, NBA, and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. “All he can do now is say, ‘Ask me football questions. My private life is private.’ And hope for this to fade away.”

2. Cancel book tour interviews: The damage has been done. But the 73-year-old Belichick could make it worse by doing more national interviews for Simon & Schuster, warns Josh Culling, president of Dezenhall Resources. Unless Belichick is being interviewed by his own literary team, news organizations will ask about his beauty-pageant girlfriend, whether they like it or not. Especially since Belichick invited that scrutiny by describing the former cheerleader as his “idea mill and creative muse” in the book. Instead, Belichick should hit pause and return to what he does best.

“The No. 1 thing he can do is shut down the entire PR operation that’s been set up around [him]—and focus on coaching football,” says the crisis management consultant. “There’s no quick fix to things like this. Reputations can be lit on fire in an instant. But rebuilding them takes time. Generally, the first thing to do is stop doing harm. Stop digging.”

3. Realize his predicament: Belichick and Hudson are kidding themselves if they think this story will blow over, warns Mike Paul, branded as “The Reputation Doctor.” Instead, it’s become a “feeding frenzy” for virtually all media outlets, ranging from ESPN and Sports Illustrated to People, TMZ, and Page Six. Comedy shows like SNL and Netflix’s Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney are licking their chops because they have new stereotypes to lampoon.

“This is not just sports. This is sports, entertainment, and lifestyle news, plus social media, all combined. It’s a huge difference between somebody following the Patriots, for example,” says Paul. “We’ve already heard whispers he’s been advised by the university, ‘We’re concerned about this.’”

For the rest of the PR experts’ recommendations, check out Michael McCarthy’s full story.

The next big wave in television audience measurement is beginning in earnest and is poised to deliver another sizable jolt to sports programming.

Nielsen received accreditation in January for its new Big Data + Panel measurement, a method that combines viewership data from set-top boxes and smart TVs with the company’s usual panel-based tabulation. As each of the major broadcast networks and streaming services this spring hold their upfronts for the forthcoming year—with sports content standing at the center of many of them—the expanding methodology will be a focal point as it becomes more established.

“This year, as part of the upfronts and going forward, we pretty much know that all our clients will be using Big Data + Panel for the upcoming [television] season,” Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said Thursday. “It’s such a massive change in measurement, at scale.”

Sports programming dominates the entire U.S. media landscape, and this new measurement will, in many instances, produce bigger audience totals. For the NFL in particular, the league delivered 70 of the top 100 broadcasts across all genres in 2024, and the league has publicly cheered the introduction of Big Data + Panel, calling it a move to “modernize measurement.”

Amazon has been among the early adopters of Big Data + Panel, and said its 2024 audience for Thursday Night Football with it amounted to an average viewership of 14.2 million, 8% higher than the traditional, panel-based audience count of 13.2 million. The methodology was also the basis of an expanded unique reach of 182.8 million for February’s Super Bowl LIX, which built on the game’s record-setting average audience of 127.7 million.

Those types of lifts are likely to be frequently seen as Big Data + Panel could become the industry standard in short order.

You can read Eric Fisher’s full story on how Nielsen’s new measurements have led to increases in sports TV ratings here.

• The Ravens’ positioning of cutting kicker Justin Tucker as a “football decision” drew plenty of snark. The most accurate kicker in NFL history has been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior by 16 massage therapists. Oh, did we mention the 35-year-old is coming off the worst season of his 13-year career? On X/Twitter, ESPN’s Mina Kimes wrote she didn’t like the fawning “tone” in the Ravens’ statement about their five-time Pro Bowler. She followed that up by tweeting: “Hey maybe don’t bend over backwards to praise the incredible resilience of a guy accused by 16 different women of sexual misconduct.” Legendary NFL writer John McClain tweeted: “Ravens made a ‘football decision’ (wink, nod) about Justin Tucker.” And former Packers executive Andrew Brandt tweeted: “For many years here: Greater talent = Greater tolerance. Now: Not enough talent = Lesser tolerance.”
• Amazon Prime Video continued its hiring spree of talent for its coverage of the NBA starting with the 2025–2026 season. The giant streamer announced the hiring of Steve Nash, Candace Parker, Udonis Haslem, and Dwyane Wade.
• Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony made his debut as a hoops analyst during NBC Sports’s coverage of the 151st Kentucky Derby on Saturday. NBC also aired a star-studded promo heralding the return of John Tesh’s driving “Roundball Rock” anthem to its hoops coverage.
• Colin Cowherd’s Volume podcast network added a new show hosted by rappers Fat Joe and Jadakiss.

17.7 million

NBC Sports and Peacock’s average viewership for Saturday’s telecast of the 151st Kentucky Derby, marking the biggest TV audience the Run for the Roses has drawn since 18.5 million watched in 1989. Saturday’s viewership, which peaked at 21.8 million, was up 6% from last year. It was NBC’s 25th consecutive Derby telecast.

“Add the Derby to the list of events that have hit multi-year highs this year on linear+streaming: Super Bowl, Final 4, Masters, NFL Draft, Derby. Haven’t heard much lately about viewership for events exclusively on streaming. Where are those numbers?”

—Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports president of insights and analytics, on X/Twitter once again touting the power of broadcast TV for big sporting events. Fox is the only traditional TV sports power that does not have its own streaming network. The closest it came was the Venu Sports project with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, which never launched after a lawsuit from Fubo.