Posted on 09/23/2017 8:55:42 PM PDT by TaxPayer2000
In case you wondered whether the National Football League would again find itself at the center of political controversy this season, wonder no more: the answer is yes.
On Friday night at a rally in Alabama, President Trump called NFL players who kneel or sit during the national anthem “sons of bitches,” and said that teams should fire them.
Trump appealed directly to NFL owners by asking the crowd: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!'” And he directly encouraged fans to walk out of games when a player protests during the anthem: “If you see it, even if it’s one player, leave the stadium, I guarantee things will stop.”
The first team owners to respond were John Mara and Steve Tisch of the New York Giants: in a statement on Saturday, they called Trump’s comments “inappropriate, offensive and divisive.” More owners have followed. At the league level, the NFL released a statement in which Commissioner Roger Goodell called the comments “divisive” and said they “demonstrate a lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players.”
But what matters next, for the business of the NFL, is how NFL sponsors react.
Trump discussing the NFL, and player protests, in Huntsville, Alabama, on Sept. 22, 2017.
The NFL is estimated to bring in an all-time-high $14 billion in revenue this year, and more than $1.5 billion of that comes from fees that official league sponsors pay to be associated with football at the highest relationship level.
When there is an NFL scandal — whether it’s a horrifying report about 110 out of 111 deceased players’ brains testing positive for CTE; or a domestic violence case ruling not going the league’s way; or a growing number of players protesting the anthem, potentially offending many fans — all that matters to the business of the league is whether sponsors walk away. And they never walk away. (Even when TV ratings dip, it is for the most part a financial risk to the cable networks that show games, not to the league unless ratings get so bad that advertisers flee.)
Who are the “official sponsors” of the NFL at the league level? Big brands including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Barclays, Bose, Bridgestone, Campbell’s, FedEx, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Nationwide, Nike, PepsiCo, Ticketmaster, Under Armour, and Visa.
Will these brands take a side in this latest battle of words: President Trump vs the NFL?
Chris Lucas and Preston Brust of the band LOCASH performed at a Pepsi NFL Kickoff event on Sept. 9, 2017 in Leesburg, Virginia. (Getty Images for Pepsi)
Some brands may say something, but don’t expect them to say very much. And don’t expect any to shrink in any way from their relationship with the league.
That’s because, in the words of Wasserman managing partner Elizabeth Lindsey, who works with brands like these on their NFL sponsorships, “Football is football… a phenomenon, a juggernaut… It’ll always continue to garner attention from the marketers, primarily because it garners that much attention from the fans.”
(NFL sponsors, and how they react to NFL scandals, was the topic of Episode 2 of our Yahoo Finance Sportsbook podcast on the business of football, with Lindsey as our special guest. You can listen on iTunes or scroll down to the bottom of this post.)
For past examples, look at how league sponsors responded when the NFL was under fire in 2014 for its handling of the domestic violence case against running back Ray Rice. Many issued statements expressing outrage, but none did more than a delicate PR move.
AB InBev said it was, “disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season” and was, “not yet satisfied with the league’s handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code.” PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said she was, “deeply disturbed” by “the repugnant behavior of a few players and the NFL’s acknowledged mishandling of these issues.”
Three years later, AB InBev and Pepsi are still proud league sponsors.
For a more current example, look at Under Armour, which has already put out a tweet on Trump’s comments about the player protests. (And Under Armour has dealt with Trump-related PR problems all year.)
That tweet perfectly hedges, attempting to please both the people offended by player protests and the people offended by Trump’s criticisms of the player protests. The company “stands by the flag and by our athletes.” The statement appears to take a strong stand, while actually saying nothing.
In the days to come, as news outlets dissect the fallout, and pro athletes send out tweets, look for NFL sponsors to either do nothing or issue a careful, walking-on-eggshells statement.
But as political issues continued to bleed into sports in 2017 (and into all industries, all corners of American business), soon sponsors may be forced to do more than put out a cautious statement.
Big brands including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Barclays, Bose, Bridgestone, Campbell’s, FedEx, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Nationwide, Nike, PepsiCo, Ticketmaster, Under Armour, and Visa. "
I do believe Trump will be the turd in the NFL’s punchbowl.
FedEx STINKS————I’m already boycotting,:-)
.
The ‘microphone eating’ photo is yet another cheap shot by the MSM. They always show conservatives with their mouths open, odd lighting, unflattering angles.
This after 8 years of Obama getting ‘halo photos’ and sh*t eating grin shots.
The word selection used by the MSM is one of the strongest ways the MSM shows its bias.
Extremely common examples:
Obama “warns”
Trump “threatens”
Obama “critiques”
Trump “attacks” or “slams”
Obama showing emotion was “passionate” or “enthusiastic”
Trump showing emotion is “unhinged”
Obama “states”
Trump “claims”
and the list goes on and on
That’s fake beer, never allowed in my house anyway.
No, FANS are going to set the tone
Particularly the quite, taxpaying, socially-conservative ones who are used to American institutions slapping them in the face with leftist politics and racial aggression
Trump has just told them its OK to be pissed off.
We should all boycott all of those brands. Forever.
I don't know much about the financials of football.
It seems to me if there are fewer TV viewers of NFL games for any reason, advertisers will not pay as much for advertising spots. In other words, there will not be as much ad revenue for teams and players.
This thing should self correct with a new, possibly lower, equilibrium.
Did He call them sons of bitches, or said the fans should say that?
The word selection used by the MSM is one of the strongest ways the MSM shows its bias.
Extremely common examples:
Obama “warns”
Trump “threatens”
Obama “critiques”
Trump “attacks” or “slams”
Obama showing emotion was “passionate” or “enthusiastic”
Trump showing emotion is “unhinged”
Obama “states”
Trump “claims”
and the list goes on and on
Great list... on and on and on...
Ok, so drink SamAdams, go to burger king, and wear addidas and use Apple and Mastercard.
Trump is standing up for approximately 63 million Americans, MANY of those, are NFL fans.
Far more NFL fans, than the “opposition” has.
And those 63,000,000 Americans are getting mighty fed up with always, always, always being on the wrong side in every single issue in America. The entire political establishment, is on the wrong side, every single time now.
Step wisely owners.
Your fans, are 100% behind Trump on this, because he is the only person saying what we all believe.
Don’t make the same mistake the Boy Scouts, and every other organization recently has made.
Don’t do it.
Don’t.
This is interesting . Who will control the narrative? Will the politically correct Goodel be able to convince the vast majority of NFL fans that disrespect for American symbols should be tolerated and even respected? Or will it cause a significant drop in ratings due to real disgust, and a loss of revenue. Suspect that many will take a knee tomorrow, the NFL will be damaged and the owners will lose money and fans in the long run. Underscores the reality that Americans are divided by values and no longer share a reasonable social consensus. Times have changed.
Good post. So true.
This thing should self correct with a new, possibly lower, equilibrium.
But that will have to wait for new television contracts. The NFL teams get their money from the networks and the networks get their decreasing advertising revenue from the advertisers. The league and the players are insulated... for a few years.
Also, teams are less likely to get taxpayer paid billion dollar play-pens in the next few years unless they can get their players straightened out. I would hate to be the next team to try to get a new stadium.
The players show a lack of respect for what? So, now the owners and the league follow these players. It's not going to end well for them.
Do a Beer ad where a black gay couple, a transgender and a genderqueer go to North Korea on a goodwill mission with the Clydesdales.
Roger Goddell will get dumped or maybe something else to make him go away.
Fans need to stand up and take it by the throat. The only thing the NGL, NBA MLB care about is money, the fans control the purse. Should be a national boycott of the NFL.
Meanwhile the NFL plays in taxpayer paid stadiums, whose upkeep and maintenance are paid by the taxpayer. They make a little less in
Concessions and ticket sales.
But the rights to televise are already sold and paid for. They are making their profits even if the stadium is empty. They made their money THIS YEAR.
Remember that they told us to GFY. And hold them accountable this year, next year and for years to follow. That is the only way to send a message that they can understand
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