As the National Football League and commissioner Roger Goodell suffer the financial consequences of allowing players to take a knee during the national anthem, it seems NFL officials and team owners have doubled down on their stupidity and will not penalize or force players to stand for the national anthem. This decision, which digs the NFL into an even deeper hole, comes as the league just a few days ago was hit with some very bad news. According to Breitbart, “NBC’s Sunday Night Football earned 10.6/18 in metered-market results, which constitutes a 3% drop from last week’s numbers. Deadline Hollywood’s report of Monday Night Football ratings earned just 7.0 in metered-market results, which is a 17.0% drop from last week’s Monday night football lineup”.
President Trump was less than pleased with the outcome of this meeting. He tweeted, “The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the playing of our National Anthem. Total disrespect for our great country!”
The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the playing of our National Anthem. Total disrespect for our great country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017
The NFL team owners have in large part done a poor job of running their teams if television ratings and ticket sales are used as metrics. Rather than place emphasis with their customer base, i.e. the source of the millions of dollars they make, they have chosen sides with a group of self-entitled crybabies who think it’s cool to disrespect America and the National Anthem.
This kneeling, which was started by former San Francisco 49er’s quarterback Colin Kaepernick, has now metastasized into a cancer, and fans have found a way to remove this cancer by way of simply walking away from the NFL and any company they do business with.
By not taking a firm stance on this issue, the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell have likely inserted the final nail into the coffin when it comes to the league’s future. Millions of dollars has already been lost; more fans continue to walk away, and after New Orleans Saints players kneeled during a tribute to a fallen police officer, fans have continued to burn their tickets and cancel their television subscriptions.
The Chief Executive and Co-owner of the San Francisco 49er’s, Jed York, said after the meeting Tuesday, “We need to be above petty attacks from anybody, because racial and socioeconomic inequality has existed in this country for too long. You got to block out the noise and go do your job, and that’s what we need to focus on.” The petty attacks he was referring to was a shot at President Trump. However, what Mr. York fails to understand is that he and his whiny players will not have a job or money if they keep alienating their fan base.
This meeting on Tuesday lasted 4 hours, and in those 4 hours absolutely nothing came out of it to earn back the loyalty of the fans. Just the opposite happened. The team owners and NFL officials caved to the players and the NFLPA, allowing players to disrespect the National Anthem.
The conclusion of this meeting was that it was more important for the NFL and its players to focus more on social justice and less on honoring America and those who have died to defend her.
Eric Reid of the San Francisco 49er’s had the nerve to say, “We feel a real responsibility to our country, to our communities, so we’re working on ways to really have long-lasting, real change.” Perhaps Mr. Reid and his counterparts could start with respecting America by standing for the national anthem. Mr. Reid talks of responsibility to America, but I doubt he’d be willing to give up his million-dollar contract to serve in the military and make an actual contribution to America.
Interestingly, Colin Kaepernick, who has filed a grievance against the NFL and its owners for supposedly conspiring to keep him out of the league, was invited to this meeting on Tuesday, yet he decided not to show up.
Several advertisers have already pulled their support from the NFL stating that they have no intention of doing business with the NFL until they reverse course. Business owners outside of the NFL machine understand that alienating a large portion of your customer base in favor of “social justice” is bad for business. Apparently, Roger Goodell and the 32 NFL team owners have not caught on to this concept.
