Posted on 12/24/2017 2:58:16 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
In September, Matt reported about the Baltimore Ravens National Anthem singer who quit his job due to the National Football League protests sparked by Colin Kaepernick in a supposed attempt to highlight police brutality by kneeling during the Star Spangled banner.
Joey Odoms quit, not because he did not support these players, but because of the fans who did not make an effort to understand why these protests were happening.
“The tone/actions of a large number of NFL fans in the midst of our country's cultural crisis have convinced me that I do not belong there,” said Odoms on Facebook:
Dear Ravens Flock
I am resigning as Official National Anthem Singer of the Baltimore Ravens. The people I've had the pleasure of meeting at the Ravens organization have been nothing but nice to me, however the tone/actions of a large number of NFL fans in the midst of our country's cultural crisis, have convinced me that I do not belong there. Someone once told me to always "go where you're welcomed". This is not an emotional reaction to recent events, rather an ethical decision that part of me regrets but my core knows is the right choice.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to grow as a performer and for allowing me to live out a dream of sharing my gift with you."
Odoms, however, was not unique in his boycott. Fans from across the political spectrum shut the TV off in droves; some disgusted by the disrespect shown towards the flag, others irked by the treatment of players who knelt. However, no team has actually admitted the damage caused by these protests and the NFL’s handling of this mismanaged public relations saga until now.
This week, the Baltimore Ravens sent fans and season ticket holders a letter blaming ticket sales declining because of the teams protests.
"The numbers [of no-shows] are higher, and it is noticeable," Cass wrote in the 656-word letter. "There are a number of reasons for the no-shows, but surely the one-time protest in London has been a factor."
The Ravens' first protest as a team occurred in London on Sept. 24, when more than a dozen players knelt during the national anthem before the first NFL game of the day. That began a daylong chain of protests in the wake of President Donald Trump's critical comments and tweets about protests during the anthem.
"We have responded to your concerns about the protest by re-doubling the efforts of both the organization and our players to make the Baltimore area a better community," Cass wrote.
According to Cass, the Ravens reached out to a number of fans who wrote to the team or called about the protest. Cass also personally made a number of phone calls and met with some fans, the letter stated.
"We want the Ravens to continue to be a strong, unifying force and source of pride in our community," Cass wrote. "When the Ravens win, we can bring families and the community together. We've done that before, and we can do it again.
"In light of recent events, we are also reminded that winning alone is not always enough to make the Ravens the unifying force we want to be. We don't take your support for granted, and we know that we must continue to earn your respect and investment in us."
The inundation of politics into sport as of late has affected anybody who has weighed in on the matter. Colleague Jazz Shaw summed it up nicely over on HotAir.com:
"Will the admission from Cass and his commitment to “do better” in the future make a difference? Perhaps, but probably not right away. If all of this protest nonsense can be put behind the league and kept to venues outside the stadium by next season, people will probably come back. But it’s also yet another example of the dangers of dragging politics into areas where people simply don’t want to see it. Just yesterday we were talking aboutt the hit that Papa John’s Pizza took, leading to the resignation of their founder and CEO. They lost a lot of sales this year after he came out in opposition to the anthem protests.
You can see how it doesn’t really matter which side of the issue you come down on. Obviously, people aren’t looking for a side order of political ideology with their large, meat lovers’ pie. Those who disagreed with the display began abandoning the brand, just as they’ve done with the Ravens. And those who agree were not willing to suddenly begin making up the difference. Those who opposed the protests weren’t buying more pizzas and those supporting the protests weren’t buying up the tickets to go to Ravens games.
Too little, too late, at least as far as this season goes. Perhaps the lesson can be taken forward next year and we can get back to enjoying the game."
I had to run some Christmas Eve errands today. I saw two guys wearing Dallas Cowboys jerseys. To me, they looked like two guys wearing pink pussy hats.
Bump.
because of the fans who did not make an effort to understand why these protests were happening.
You just can’t fix Stupid!!, The fans understand perfectly well what is going on, that’s why they QUIT!!!
“the NFL’s single most important source of revenue is TV broadcasting rights.”.
Well they don’t need to count my TV as tuned to their channel(s), I stopped watching when the protests started and have ZERO intentions of ever viewing again. Amazing the things you can do instead of watch those fools.
“the NFL’s single most important source of revenue is TV broadcasting rights.”.
Well they don’t need to count my TV as tuned to their channel(s), I stopped watching when the protests started and have ZERO intentions of ever viewing again. Amazing the things you can do instead of watching those fools.
heh heh
That’s what it amounts to. But someone loses $5 billion they were counting on.
Yup,that seems pretty straightforward.However,although I'm not a lawyer you've gotta believe that mention is made in that "master" contract of unforeseen events...like a substantial drop in ratings.In such an event *someone's* gonna take a hit financially because advertisers aren't gonna pay "X" for a "Y" audience only to find that the audience is "Y minus Z".
I have an idea. NFL should structure players contract by linking it to ticket sale
How about ESPN commentators who think fan loyalty is switching to the NBA? Yup, that’s right, the NBA!
As for me, I wish baseball were the biggest sport in the country, but the NFL is still far and away the biggest and most profitable sport in the United States.
The fact that the Ravens actually demonstrated abroad was shocking to many fans. I think this happened in Mexico too, at least once. They sit or kneel for the American Anthem, but stand tall with hand over heart for the British and Mexican Anthems. Any old anthem will do, so long as they can poke the eyes of their own country. Exporting a bad attitude.
I doubt if many English or Mexicans were that impressed.
No doubt many found it amusing.
“I have an idea. NFL should structure players contract by linking it to ticket sale”
An NFL owner has the option to structure a player’s contact based on ticket sales.
However, at lest one of the other NFL team owners my not be on board with your idea and will sign better players than the owner that adopts your idea.
And the NFLPA would never agree to such a CBA.
DANGED GOOD!!! Couldn’t happen to a better group. I quit watching a few years ago. This mess just reinforced my decision!!!
When the Ravens win, we can bring families and the community together.
The EMPTY seats at the San Francisco 49er’s stadium are easy to see.
Seats on the 50 years line are basically empty-—I don’t mean they are half full—I mean they are barely 6 % full.
That stadium cost plenty & I do NOT know how much money the taxpayers will be on the hook for, but this is going to cost plenty.
Ravens’ Mike Wallace wants to flip the bird to the whole stadium.
“Maybe the world would be better off if the felons making up the team had to earn a living doing something other than chase a ball on the playing field.”
If I could chase the ball around the field in a more productive manner than the guys out there, I would be making millions of dollars.
What NFL team is made up of felons?
Can you name felons, that’s more than one felon, who are playing in the NFL?
The ticket sales for next season will be very interesting.....
Not that I know anything about this since I don’t follow pro football and it does utterly nothing for me, but a no show is also a no-$10 beer and a no $17 T-shirt and a no-$5 parking. I’m sure these add-ons are tracked quite carefully as well.
“The ticket sales for next season will be very interesting.....”
The Waiting List for Baltimore Ravens season tickets is 20 min years.
There are 73,000 people on the waiting list for Denver Bronco’s season tickets.
The New Orleans Saints have 70,000 people on the waiting list for season tickets.
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