RailBoss

So it's not your Daddies Football no longer.

gumbeau

The NFL has made a series of critical errors. The anthem protest spiraling out of control is certainly one of them.

Kaepernick wore the pig socks before he starting sitting and then kneeling.

The dumbass wore a Che Guevara shirt in MIAMI.

It is the same as wearing a Hitler shirt to a synagogue.

Everyone knows it never was a respectful protest.

That genie can't be put back in the bottle.

The roots of this protest are garbage. A lot of players are trying to make the claim that it is actually a respectful protest but no one is going to forget Kaepernick's ORIGINAL intent.

Cops are Pigs. Murdering Communist Thug T-shirts at press conferences in a town full of the relatives of those murdered by the thug make him fully "woke" and a hero to certain people.

People know history. Older football fans remember when and why police are called pigs. It all started during the Vietnam protests. Returning veterans were spat upon walking off the airplanes.

Kaepernick tapped straight into all that old animosity and reminded people of the riots, violence and bloodshed that divided us.

And we see the same thing brewing up again.

Football went from a unifying force to divisive in a few short years because it allowed itself to pick a side. This will be seen as Goodell's biggest failure.

NFL players are fools to latch on to this.

Beastmode

The protest are an issue but it's one of many. Rome fell for a lot of things. It wasn't just one issue. There are half a dozen issues right now with the NFL. None of which can be fixed. The protesting is not even in the top tier of issues. Paid TV is declining. Down 5% since 2014. That is a lot of people and it's getting worse every quarter. Safety, no way to fix it. It's dangerous and parents want nothing to do with it. The sport is dying.

jeanpierre

Reality is this:

Majority of fans want to see the players they pay to see stand and pay respect for the National Flag, Pledge, and Anthem - the numbers are there to prove it...

Most owners AKA The Man, would love to tell these overpaid players to get off their collective arses and stand; Jones, McNair, and Ross have said as much...

Here's the thing, a handful of owners and the league commissioner and officials at the league office are deep in Blue States...

They have to shop, eat, attend little league games, block parties, go to church with these liberals that congregate to the big population centers in our country...

Because they lack backbone they easily cave to the whims and wishes of these liberal elites that run in their same social circles...

Fix this by moving all these league officials from New York to a more centrist location like Canton, Ohio or St. Louis Missouri - who says they have to be in New York?!?

Then you'll find a more balanced tone coming from the league office starting with the league cracking down on hypocritical players for Domestic Violence...

But at the end of the day it boils down to this - most folks are fatigued by the CNN, NYT, WaPo vs Fox Info Battles and want to get away from that with NFL football...

They sure don't want more of the same BS when they're seeking the leisure of a beer, some friends, and a good game...

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

Beastmode

The fans are drying up with or without kneeling. Kids today don't care about football. Parents certainly don't care. The decline will continue for a couple more decades until the sport is eventually deemed cruel and sickening. I don't think fans today really get it. In order to keep it going it takes new fans. They are not there.

rezburna

Participation in all youth sports are on the decline.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.was...ified-coaches/

arsaint

Ratings WILL drop.

I used to watch ANYTHING NFL. NFL Network was the default background noise in my house. Now I don't even tune in.

Last night I was trying desperately to try to find something to watch - no kids or wife so I had full control of the remote. Vikings Broncos on - PASS


I'm a 16+ NFL fan now - I watch the 16 Saints regular season games + any playoff games (while holding my nose at our protesting Saints) and no other games.

rezburna

NFL made $14 billion last year. Let’s wait and see how much of a drop off in revenue there is first, because everybody down here on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi is buzzing about the return of football and just ignoring the protests in the same ways they ignore discrimination.

Even with things shifting away from traditional television, YouTube is worth well over $100 billion. The NFL could easily partner up with them and other streaming platforms and provide their content direct to consumer. This also would aid in globalizing the sport. People can stream games live on their phones. Plus, sports betting just got legalized in Mississippi. Other states will follow suit.

"The first need of a free people is to define their own terms.” - Stokely Carmichael

saintfan

Americans don't like the Anthem protests. Period. It hasn't got one single thing to do with race, no matter the stammering and stomping of those who insist it does.

Nothing.

The first Amendment protects the right to protest, but it does not do so while on the Job.

The NFL numbers are down. No way to argue that. The numbers don't lie. They will drop again this year. Bet the farm on it.

rezburna

All TV numbers are down across the board. The NFL’s drop is substantially less than anybody else’s. Sunday Night Football was still the highest rated TV show last year, and Monday Night Football only dropped 3%. A significant portion of White Americans don’t like the protest, but they also don’t seem to like any form of protest that isn’t driven by Conservatism. We can go back and watch videos from the 1960’s or read the Gallup polls and plenty of them said Blacks had equal opportunity during the Jim Crow era and that the Civil Rights Marches were silly and unwarranted. One of the comments said that “people know history”. Obviously not. I’m trying to figure why y’all haven’t abandoned the message boards and just stopped watching. It’s easy. Counter protest.

"The first need of a free people is to define their own terms.” - Stokely Carmichael