Posted on 08/30/2020 2:48:37 AM PDT by raccoonradio
The protest from players is now costing the owners money. Over the past week we have seen protests from multiple sports league's following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin and the National Hockey League has been no exception. Although protests or boycotts from players in the National Basketball Association have received a good bit of praise in this regard, with the NBA also getting its fair share of critics to be sure, similar protests in the NHL have been met by far more backlash from fans, especially as more and more evidence in the case of Jacob Blake has come to the forefront.
Despite the reaction from their own fans however the NHL and its players have largely moved forward with their plans and have now even delayed the playing of their playoff games in an effort to send a political message. That message however has been met by even more derision from the NHL's fans and now there is a very clear message being sent to at least some NHL teams by some of those fans, fans who just so happen to wield a lot of financial muscle.
According to comments made by SB Nation's Robert Tiffin this week there are now "big clients" of the Dallas Stars organization who have made the decision to cancel their accounts with the team following some political protests from a pair of their players. Specifically Tiffin cites the fact that both Stars forward Tyler Seguin and Stars forward Jason Dickinson took a knee during the national anthem as the reason behind the cancelation from the as of yet to be identified "big clients." You may not think that this is a particularly big deal given the millions that teams normally pull in every year, but I assure you nothing could be further from the truth. No league depends more on ticket revenue than the NHL and this will no doubt send a powerful message to the Stars ownership group.
I have to admit that given the fact that the Stars play in Dallas, Texas makes this news come as relatively little surprise. Texas is after all largely a red state and when you combine that with the fact that hockey has a very blue collar audience it is not hard to imagine how those clients may have felt about the decision to protest against law enforcement and in defense of Jacob Blake.
I suspect that we may hear more stories like this if the protests continue, although I wonder how much freedom NHL players will be given on this front if it continues to hit the owners in their bank accounts.
Robert Tiffin @RobertTiffin A source told me that some big clients canceled their accounts after Seguin and Dickinson took a knee during the anthem. Given the climate, I'd expect the team to be extremely careful not to risk losing more business by saying more than they think they absolutely have to.
It doesn't even make sense, who do they think that are hurting, and what do they think the results of this action will accomplish.Are they saying that their fans in the US are racist, all fans maybe?
I grew playing hockey and really enjoy the sport, but they are making it very hard to justify spending any money to support them, It's an expensive sport to play and going to an NHL game isn't cheap either, too bad they disrespect their fans and are going out of their way to prove it.
I was a Steeler season tix holder for almost 40 years beginning in 1966 when my first season ticket cost was $21. It was $3 a game for seven home games then being played at the old Pitt Stadium at the top of a mountain in Oakland.
At one point in the 70s I had 16 sets of tix that I used for business {the home games were not on TV}, so the seats were very hot for bribery...errr, business gifts.
I also had 4 sets of Penguin tix that I bought the year Mario was drafted, what a run that was.
We sold our last two Steeler tix in the early 2000's when after being forced to buy our seats in Heinz Field, we we no longer allowed to smoke {in an outside stadium} in our own seats.
I guess that was the beginning of the end of my passion for pro sports.
When I pay for something, I want some say in my interaction with the receiver of my money.
If that made me a racist, OK with me.
This is a ‘horror show’ for pro sports.
The mob is calling for those advertisers who are dropping the Stars contracts to be identified so they can be boycotted.
Who in their right mind will sponsor any pro team if there is a threat of boycott for dropping sponsorship?
If I had a business I would avoid sports advertising all together.
Go ahead, kill the golden goose you idiots.
Several times now I’ve made the mistake of tuning in too early to the Tigers radio broadcast, before the game starts, and began hearing Dan Dickerson preaching about how “we need to have a conversation about racism”.
I was doing that too but now ESPN is sprinkling the social justice brow beatings into the actual game so viewers can’t avoid their tantrums. I turned off the college football game last night when they started in on the SJW nonsense during the game. It’s only going to get worse when the big college teams start to play.
So you'd be cool with a player that said, "All lives matter" or one who supported the Proud Boys?
Or do you support your players 100% to express only "approved" views?
Fix tag line...
Maybe I’ll start watching KHL games instead.
It's like an old movie where everybody on board a ship is dead, but they don't know it at the beginning of the movie. "Between Two Worlds" or something like that.
Maybe I’ll start watching KHL games instead.
I was watching Russian league soccer this morning. Got the French league on now. After seeing the first of ESPN’s SJW college football telecasts last night I am done with CFB for the year.
The revenues are just starting to tank, but the people running the sports teams keep acting like this is just a temporary thing.
That’s where the Chicoms come in. They’ll support anything that undermines the US.
EuroLeague basketball is fun to watch, the crowds are nuts, it’s basically a soccer crowd in an arena, waving flags, and flares everywhere.
There are so many outlets for entertainment these days the pot gets divvied up so many ways IF you have a goose laying the golden egg, WHY throw it away?
For political crappola?
For BLM? A marist attempt to throw America away?
Ive been to 35 foreign countries and 49 United States.
Go most anywhere in the world as I then when back I got on my hands and knees and Thanked GOD I am an American.
LeBron, go throughout China and see how the other 600 million poor live there.
Go to Germany where the sports fans throw bananas at black soccer players.
Get real folks
They lost ticket holders and “big clients” and I lost interest.
Same with the Texas Rangers.
They want to be social justice snowflakes, let’em. I can find other things to do. It all started a few years ago when they started donning the pink attire.
Just play the sport; that is the ONLY reason people even watch.
DON’T CARE AND COULD GIVE A CRAP LESS!!! I have not watched a baseball game, a hockey match or a racist NBA crap game since they came back on!!! Oh, wait, I WAS NOT WATCHING BEFORE THE PLANNED-DEMIC EITHER!!! Oh well, never mind!!!!
Scripture says it is in the heavens in high places, spiritual!!
If I had a business I would avoid sports advertising all together.
Very insightful. Businesses are going to find out way too late and that they can't be "woke" enough to please the mob. Their only option is to never advertise with televised sports, then to never advertise with television at all as more "actors" like Jussie Smollett cry false racism in an attempt to prevent being fired for poor performance.
My company has already backed out on sports sponsorships.
It all started when some sports reporter referred to athletes as heroes. It went to their heads, germinated in all that empty space and now they actually believe they somehow matter. Worse, they think what they think is important because after all they are heroes.
The sting of backlash appears keep scratching a$$ and looking at the sky and wondering why.
Proof that money and brains don’t always match.
At this rate, they will probably want taxpayer money to support the teams.
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