Welcome to our brotherly debate as we kick it off by my question on whether players demanding more money should be required to stand. As their protest appears to have cost the NFL money and hurt their revenue stream.
PC747: Should players who are demanding to get more of the revenue from NFL teams be allowed to protest in a way the effects a teams revenue source?
Example: not standing for the national anthem hurting the teams from fans and businesses no longer supporting with their money (even though it was a result of protesting Trump and police shootings and not the flag)?
Deecee:
The NFL losing all these fans and sponsors because of kneeling for the flag is hog wash. Television ratings have taken a hit over the past few years across all industries. Cord cutting is a huge deal, I haven’t even personally watched “traditional” television in a while. Players should be demanding more revenue regardless. They don’t even get through the lifetime of their contracts in most cases. NFL player A could sign a 5 year, $70 million contract while NBA player Z could sign the same exact deal. The difference is that one sport has guaranteed contracts and the others do not. NFL contract could give nice guaranteed money up front, roster bonuses and other things they use to sweeten the pot. NFL player A could play his first two contracts and we’ll say 45 of the 70 million on the deal. On year three their cap number could be too high for the franchise if they do not agree to restructure the deal usually they are cut. While NBA player Z will see every cent of his deal even if he is traded to nine teams or even waived. There are more factors in people less in tuned… all the concussions, violence against women, amongst other things are factors.
According to ESP research: “Sponsorship spending on the professional football league and its 32 teams rose 5.9 percent to $1.32 billion in the 2017-2018 season. Spending rose 4.3 percent in the previous season.The increase exceeds the year-over-year increase in 2017 sports spending and overall North American sponsorship spending, both of which grew 3.5 percent.”
The NFL is lying when they claim to be losing money. They run the sports world, they just have a perception problem. They now are in too deep with Trump and all his following. Colin Kaepernick, a Super Bowl starting QB, doesn’t have a team… Not because he can’t play, because he wanted to bring awareness to police brutality in the United States of America.
PC747: I am all for bringing awareness to police brutality but there are many ways to doing that. But the kneeling may have started as a protest for police brutality but it morphed into a player versus Trump thing. Ever since Trump made his statement it was game on. It was more about kneeling to spite Trump than it was to deal with police brutality. The NFL players that actually put actions to words were few. To your point about guaranteed money I agree. NFL players need to get more money but that was the deal they collectively bargained for. Now I know that the owners turned the attention to the players during the last deal making it look like the players were being greedy. So to that yes the players need more especially for how popular the NFL is and what players put their bodied through.
But it is hard for me to side with players demanding money when they are turning money away. The DoD pays the NFL over 10 mil for the pregame flag display. Take that and divide that by 32 teams and 53 players and that is about 3500 a player. Now unless the players are willing to say to the owners “here keep my $3500 I am going to kneel” then so be it.
It is obvious the impact of the kneeling and Trump fiasco costing the NFL money and viewership. It was why they made it a priority to nip this in the bud. With the NFL coming up with more ways to serve the cord cutters they are looking to try and maximize their viewership and profits. And they can not do that if fans are turning the tv off because they feel the players are disrespecting the troops. Regardless if both you and I may feel otherwise the reality is there are fans and people out there who feel the players need to stand and not all of them are in the camp of “these black people need to do what they are told”. Are there some that are in that camp, yeah, but many have mothers, fathers, brothers, and friends who lost limbs and died for this country. And whether it be “forced” Patriotism or not, I personally think the players should stand to honor those who have served. But I also am for them being a part of their community and continuing to bring awareness to police brutality.
Regardless, without fans willing to pay to watch the games and buy the merchandise players and organizations will not have the money or platform needed to make changes. So for me who is balancing this debate on fighting for civil rights and being patriotic, I am glad this will come to a head with this new agreement that clearly demand players either stand or stay in the locker room. But I wonder how many fans will be keeping up with the players who choose to stay in the locker room?
