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Posted on 09/29/2017 7:40:59 PM PDT by TigerClaws
Is it a passing storm or an existential problem? That’s a key question for the NFL as it grapples with the mushrooming controversy of players kneeling in protest during the national anthem, and President Donald Trump’s persistent bashing of the kneelers.
A new Yahoo Finance poll suggests the NFL has an enduring problem on its hands. Nearly 62% of 9,056 respondents told us they plan to watch less pro football in response to the anthem controversy. Thirty-six percent said they plan to buy less NFL merchandise, and 32% have chosen not to attend a game they would otherwise have gone to. Those findings all have financial implications for the NFL and its 32 team owners.
We wanted to limit our survey, conducted online via SurveyMonkey from Sept. 28-29, to people who patronize the NFL, and exclude people who have an opinion but don’t watch football. So we only counted answers from people who describe themselves as pro football fans. Eighty-eight percent of respondents said they watch at least one game per week, with 46% of those saying they watch more than two games. (Here are the full survey results. The number of responses varies from question to question.)
Source: Yahoo Finance The NFL’s anthem controversy is becoming one of the most divisive social issues in recent years, with Trump’s comments fanning the flames. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kicked off the protests last year, when he began kneeling during the anthem to protest police brutality. A few other players followed his lead, but the kneelers were a sideshow and football was mostly about football.
[Read more: Here’s how NFL sponsors have responded to the player protests] That changed on Sept. 22, when Trump gave a fiery speech in Alabama blasting the kneelers. He described Kaepernick, without mentioning him by name, as a “son of a bitch” and called on NFL owners to fire any player who kneels during the anthem. Trump has kept up his crusade since then, mostly on Twitter, provoking many players to kneel in solidarity with Kaepernick. Owners, meanwhile, have been struggling to keep fans happy without politicizing what, for most, is a form of entertainment.
Source: Yahoo Finance The issue divides fans at least as much as it divides players. In a recent Seton Hall Poll, 84% of respondents said they support the players’ right to protest. But only 35% said kneeling during the anthem was the right way to do it. In the Yahoo Finance survey, we asked specifically if people felt it was wrong for players to kneel during the anthem. Seventy-seven percent said yes, 20% said no and just 2% said they weren’t sure. (The numbers don’t add to 100 because of rounding.)
In our survey, we wanted to suss out whether the anthem flap could deal a lasting financial hit to the NFL. The answers suggest it could. When we asked fans if the controversy would make them more or less supportive of the NFL, 71% said less and only 15% said more. Of those who said they are now less supportive, 74% said their change of heart was permanent, and only 3% said they felt it was temporary. Public attitudes are fickle, and it’s entirely possible boredom with the issue — or terrifically exciting football — could make people forget before long. The NFL, after all, has faced other disturbing issues that didn’t seem to dent its popularity.
We promoted our survey on the Yahoo Finance home page, and on our Twitter and Facebook accounts. So responses reflect the characteristics of the Yahoo Finance audience, which skews more toward wealthier white males than the broader population.
But that may actually be worse news for the NFL, especially since a startling majority of respondents in our survey show a striking disregard for the future of the league. When asked their view if the anthem flap were to cause the NFL lasting harm, 47% said they’d be pleased and 30% said they wouldn’t care. Only 10% said it would bother them. For football fans, it once seemed hard to imagine life in America without the NFL. Some fans seem to be rethinking that.
God does not 'accept' homosexuality. The good news, though, is that - like all sinners - the homosexual can be washed clean.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
"And such were some of you".
Sinners are to come to Christ and to be washed by the Spirit. They are not to wallow in their sins like pigs in the mire.
And we are at the point nowadays, that we aren't supposed to merely 'accept homosexuality', we are to celebrate it. Letting sinners march into hell with an attaboy, and a pat on the back, is no virtue.
I gave away my tickets for the Ravens - Kneelers Sunday....
I am a big fan of college FB. If they drop a knee, it will be bastardized la vista baby.
You nailed it. I feel exactly the same way.
Vet here, too. I gave 50 years of my life to the Packers. F*ck. Them.
And here I thought Favre was the one that was going to RUIN football for me when he signed on as a @#$%^&*! Viking of all things!!
I’m so tired of these Prima Donas. Screw. You. All. And TWICE on Sunday!
NFL counting on the fact that most boycotts fizzle in a short period of time because people don’t stick with it.
Home run on that one, what politician is going to propose spending tax payer money to build a new NFL cathedral with public support so low.
I am lifetime (’65 and on) Patriots Fan.
No more.
AS much as I loved me some Tommy, and believe me I did, and still do.
I am out. We are playing Golf on Sunday, which I, personally never do.
Bye Bye NFL.
I took the survey this morning. The questions were detailed, comprehensive and to the point. They made sense, particularly since they were intended for actual fans.
I can see how the owners, and execs must be totally freaked. They were too naive to understand their own fans. The NFL radical lefties have lost big with this one.
Ya gotta love how Trump has played this and how the fans have responded.
“Ya gotta love how Trump has played this and how the fans have responded.”
You betcha I do! ;)
I’m not watchign any less football this year than I did last year.
Of course, last year, I didn’t watch any.
How can you give 50 years of your life to the Packers when you’re only 26? ;)
I'm not going to watch any football. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Nichts. Rien. Nic. Ничего.
The players pooped in America’s living room.
Then some NFL owners joined in.
Then some NFL owners suggested that it didn’t really smell all that bad.
Other owners suggested that it smelled great.
That stink is gonna last a while.
Like others have said - many of us will watch zero NFL productions - for me, same goes for ESPN.
Like I’ve been saying, this didn’t happen overnight, it’s been brewing for a long time.
People are tiring of “Big Sports”-billionaire owners who only care about selling the Corporate Suites at stadiums, and fleecing the taxpayers to build new palaces. And thugs making millions of dollars.
They are tired of the players they root for every Sunday getting in trouble with the law.
And now, the final straw, learning a lot of the people they root for hate this country.
Who needs this s__t?
>>They were too naive to understand their own fans.
I don’t think it’s naïveté. It’s willful ignorance from living in a PC Leftist bubble. If you are on the Right, you can’t help but be exposed to Left-wing thought and ideas. Turn on any 3-letter TV network, open a newspaper, etc. Conversely, it is very easy for a Leftist to see very little of the Right. It takes real intellectual curiosity to get out of the Leftist bubble, especially when you are being told that anyone who doesn’t believe in Leftist ideas is a racist, homophobic, Islamophobic Nazi KKKer, as is happening.
But calling it simply naïveté is far too kind. Willful ignorance at best. And quite often worse, talking about the Left in general.
You should have burned them on youtube in front of a logo of whomever you would want to promote. The number of eyes on those videos is huge.
I’m not in favor of those kinds of gestures....Just quietly walk away and don’t make a big deal out of it.
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