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 ...
Exclusive poll: 62% of NFL fans plan to watch less football
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-poll-62-nfl-fans-plan-watch-less-football-163908368.html
After London Game, Fox Sports Will Not Air National Anthem
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/10/01/fox-sports-anthem-coverage
HAIL MARY WE ARE GOING TO FAKE YOU OUT!!!!
NFL broadcasters hint at JAW-DROPPING solution for anthem protests DON’T BROADCAST THE PROTEST!Sundays Patriots-Panthers game.
https://www.allenbwest.com/2017/09/30/nfl-broadcasters-hint-jaw-dropping-solution-anthem-protests/
And you know Roger Goodell and the owners know this that real freedom of speech does not apply here.
Lying about it, you know they are complicit in helping spread the BLM lies to try to undermine this nation and our President.
CGato
Just say NO!
“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.”
utter bullshit. players are contract employees whose behaviors both on and off the field are governed by hundreds of pages of rules and contractual language.
the owners are simply more terrified of their employees than their customers. can’t wait to see how that works out for them.
All of the owners thought they could spit on Trump supporters and the U.S. and we wouldn’t care.
Where is the ACLU lawsuit?
In the end they may end up being grateful to Trump, though they would never say so.
Trump saw a festering problem and his bringing it to the forefront multiplied the issues public exposure and is forcing the owners and league to confront it when they would prefer to continue ignoring it as it grew and grew.
Goodell should figure out how to make the "protests" stop, then resign. Or, if he can't figure it out, he should just resign. If he won't resign, he should be fired. Thanks Bigtigermike.
what on earth can they claim is their goal and how will they know they've achieved it let alone be able to declare victory and stop their silly little black tantrums?
seems to me they have started an everlasting war with no victory possible or end in sight
Families should boycott the NFL permanently.
Yes the NFL lost my husband and several others we know last year.
At 75% black - the NFL is a minstrel show for whites who identify with pimp culture and hate their own race. Pussies
But you DO have the 'power' to say, "You are no longer a player."
WEEK 4 RESULTS - STANDERS VS KNEELERS
STANDERS - 9
KNEELERS - 4
The NFL Standers came of a great Week 3, where they went 11/1 against the NFL Kneelers, and maintained their winning ways, going 9/4 in Week 4.
Of games where there was a difference in the Anthem Ritual between the two teams, the team with the more traditional and patriotic approach won 9 and lost 4 in Week 4.
The Anthem Rituals were ranked by the following criteria, from patriotic to not patriotic:
1. Traditional Standing
2. Standing with Linked Arms
3. Coordinated Kneeling with Traditional Standing
4. Coordinated Kneeling with Standing with Linked Arms
5. Hid in Locker Room/Tunnel
6. Linked Arm Standing with Some Raised Fists
7. Linked Arm Standing with Some Sitting
8. Linked Arm Standing with Some Kneeling
Surprising wins by Standing Teams: NY Jets over Jacksonville, LA Rams over Dallas and Houston Texans over Tennessee.
Many NFL team owner seem willing to lose in order to maintain this protest. Sad!
They also blocked him from buying into a franchise.
Its an NFL rule that requires the players to stand during the National anthem. All this BS about they dont have the power to tell them what to do its just that BS. What they really afraid of is being called racist by the black players, who make up over 70% of the league.
I think that are just left-wingers.
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