Posted on 10/01/2017 8:55:00 AM PDT by Bigtigermike
"It certainly was my takeaway that the commissioner was looking for a way for the protests to end," Smith said Friday when asked about his 30-minute conversation with Goodell, while declining to offer specifics about what was discussed. Goodell declined to comment, but a league source did not dispute Smith's account. "Knowing the league the way I know the league, they are first and foremost concerned about the impact on their business," Smith said. "That's always their first concern. I mean, who are we kidding?"
Nobody was kidding when many of the NFL's highest-profile owners, including Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, expressed concerns last week that the optics of hundreds of players kneeling, sitting or remaining in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem had alienated many fans at a particularly perilous moment for the NFL. TV ratings for many of this year's games have continued a slide that began last season; some league sponsors have grown skittish about the backlash; and most surveys have shown that a majority of NFL fans are turned off by the politicization of the game.
To the commissioner's suggestion that the protests should end, Smith said, "My only response was, 'I don't have the power to tell our players what to do.' ... At the end of the day, this is a group of players who are exercising their freedom. There is no room for me to snap my fingers and tell our players, 'It's time for you to give up a freedom.' Just the idea offends me.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
Trump had nothing to do with it.
NFL management at all levels has been exposed for the wusses they are.
The NFL has rules for this sort of behavior....this is a little like Hillary doesn't have to follow the laws of her office and America's jurisprudence.
Commissioner, you don't "have to snap your fingers" to tell these nits they either behave like adults and show some respect for their country or they're fired!
ESPN?
This might be true and it might not be depending on how it will make liberal politics look.
The “Smith” cited here is DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL players union. If that guy can’t even understand the damage that his members are doing to pro football, then it’s no wonder that NFL players have long been regarded as having the weakest union of any major sport.
Translation: NFL owners to need emergency treatment after riding the fence for weeks.
First of all it should be acknowledged, as another poster alerted me, that ESPN was writing articles about why players need to “protest” before Colin Kapernick started his idiocy. As others joined in, the sports networks, led by ESPN reveled in the mess they had helped create.
Goodell could have stuck with the rules and helped out the individual owners, who could have had the moral cover of league rules if they lacked the backbone.
After a year, Trump mentions it in a Senate primary campaign speech and ESPN and leftists call for every slime ball to act out.
A year ago, I said that the NFL had ruined their brand and lost me as a fan. Nothing has changed except now they disparage our President even more and act to threaten those they don’t agree with.
You are a Pussy if you watch or go to the NFL.
They had the power to stop previous expressions of support for the police, the military, and Christianity. So he’s lying. Because they’ve always shut down expressions of support for anything conservative.
NFL management at all levels has been exposed for the wusses they are.
Yeah, but Trump is the GWUBM (Great White Universal Boogie Man), on whom anything can be blamed by anyone wishing to play the victim.
It’s very simple, lead by example, period. Take the PC PR hit but retain the admiration of the AntiPC nation.
I applaud the NFL for giving these guys the opportunity to get out of the Hood but looking at the number of arrests afterward indicates they don’t get very far out of the Hood.
Didn't ESPN start turning itself into the SJW Network about ten years ago? Maybe longer?
I can't remember when I first started hearing about it (I've never watched ESPN). Was it when they fired Rush Limbaugh?
Retain it?
That ship has sailed boys...
You lost control when you let Kapernick get away with his on-field protest last year.
There are two kinds of football teams now: those where the coach runs the team and teams where the players call the shots.
The teams run by players lost last week. These losers are infecting college, high school and pee wee football with their vain `Look at me!’ nonsense. Boycott the NFL.
I thought nfl already had a rule about protocol during The Anthemn
Oh, “freedom” like wearing symbols of support for Dallas PD after a a BLACK NATIONALIST killed several of them ?
NFL?
Done with it.
Doesn't the league normally fine players for rule violations?
[At the end of the day, this is a group of players who are exercising their freedom. There is no room for me to snap my fingers and tell our players, ‘It’s time for you to give up a freedom.’ Just the idea offends me.]
Fine them then. Like dog piss boy on the Giants.
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