Posted on 11/01/2017 8:38:27 AM PDT by John W
Executives from Papa John's, the official pizza company of the NFL, expressed disappointment on a conference call Wednesday about the league's ongoing player protests during the national anthem.
"The NFL has hurt us," company founder and CEO John Schnatter said. "We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this."
Executives said the company has pulled much of its NFL television advertising and that the NFL has responded by giving the company additional future spots.
"Leadership starts at the top and this is an example of poor leadership," Schnatter said, noting he thought the issue had been "nipped in the bud" a year and a half ago.
In revising sales estimates for the next quarter, Papa John's president and chief operating officer Steve Ritchie said on the call that the NFL deal was the primary suspect behind the decline and that "we expect it to persist unless a solution is put in place."
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
Papa Johns,
I am not eating any more of your pizza as long as you advertise with the NFL...
And so are millions of others.
Your move.
The crust is sweet in my experience too.
Executives said the company has pulled much of its NFL television advertising and that the NFL has responded by giving the company additional future spots.
But will they continue to go down with the ship as the NFL is in suicide mode.
I love the garlic sauce.
The last Papa John’s for me was 4 years ago or so.
I try to do more with the local places.
Yep. Buying watermelons for a dollar then selling them for a dollar and deciding the solution is to get a bigger truck.
Papa John is getting backlash for advertising in the 1st place I would imagine. Both in a drop in sales and complaints of his patriotism. He’d be a hero and probably increase sales just by jumping ship altogether. Do an ad that says “I’m an American Patriot and proud of it. That’s why I’ll never advertise with the NFL”.
The only convenient chain pizza to me is a walkup storefront Pizza Hut, their “premium” pizzas with better sauce actually aren’t bad, but local places are usually far better. There are two locals that I patronize, and Pizza Hut if I’m in a rush and wanting pizza, I just go next door to the Food Lion and do grocery shopping while they’re preparing my order and pick it up when I’m done.
The garlic sauce and pepperoncini are a high point with Papa John’s, though. Pizza’s not horrible, there are some good points. But the sweet crust sort of puts me off.
With PJ bringing this issue to the public tells me they are ready to bolt and without a doubt all of the other advertisers will do like most do, monkey see, monkey do. This also means the undercurrents are already there for them as just yesterday we read that ESPN will have to drop MNF because of their massive losses of subscribers.
We really are seeing the make or break point with JJ in an open revolt against RG and I heard a report that now over half the owners on siding with JJ.
It is just an intellectual exercise for me at this point. We do not do anything NFL, period. For all of those up and coming college players, call your pro friends and thank them for screwing up what you have worked your whole life to attain. Now they will have to get summer jobs if they still intend to play pro ball.
Perhaps it varies a bit by franchise.
All of this talk of pizza does make me want to go to the local pizza joint that is a family-owned restaurant run by folks from Sicily.
If they fired every kneeler it would get very interesting. People who were not kneeling might start and then fire them, rinse lather and repeat.
That's not enough. So then if they decided that if you are a felon you can't play professional football... Now that would be interesting.
How about if the NFL publically apologized to Tebow. The only reason he was cut was because he was not a thug nor a felon he is a Christian whose faith made the evil NFL nervous.
consumer_services@papajohns.com
I have “tests” for restaurants, with Mexican it’s the salsa. If they’ve got enough cilantro in it, I’ll likely like their food. With pizza joints and diner Italian in general, it’s if they offer Caprese, know how to pronounce it and the mozzarella as well as the basil is fresh. If they do Caprese right and don’t call it Caprice, I know I’ll like their pizza and other offerings.
There is a local chain ran by an Italian guy that makes a killer stromboli.
I emailed the company about ending their NFL advertising. It would be a marketing masterstroke if Papa John’s bailed on the league for its anti American antics. I guarantee they would experience business increases never seen before (see Chickfila). $0 spent on NFL adds, tens of millions in free positive PR.
Papa John's should pull out before people start thinking they back American haters...
Will wonders never cease...WFLA 970 in Tampa just reported on this story!
Flag Protest Is Hurting Our Business!
No wonder the NFL feels "empowered" to keep up this crap. I feel very bad for the future of our country.
Had he clamped down on Krappydick last year, fined him a huge amount and/or suspended him for the season, this would all be over now................
Wait a while. Papa Johns is a mega NFL supporter and is saying the NFL is hurting it’s biz.
The NFL should pull off the band-aid quickly and get this over with...
Players will NEVER be satisfied with anything short of abolishing all police departments and having owners grovel before them. Owners are starting to look like scared teenage girls and the kneelers like thugs. The bad news for the NFL is giving the school bully your lunch money doesn’t work...
Tell them to stand for the Anthem or get fired - man up NFL owners.
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