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."
It would be mildly interesting to compute the loss in value Kaepernick imposed upon the NFL. I’d bet it’s approaching $5 billion.
“Unfortunately for the NFL, millions of people found that the world didn’t stop turning if they walked away and found something else to do with their time. They won’t be back. Serves them right. “
Yes, it’s like kicking a drug habit. People who have pi$$ed away their lives on the NFL hopefully will have found that there is more to life that laying around drinking beer, eating Ballpark franks, and farting sitting on the Lazy-Boy three or four days a week!
Going from $40 down to $35 billion. That would be a 12% hit representing $5 billion loss. All for dividing fans over the issue of “taking a knee.” No way are they going to let that kind of money-draining continue. They’ll either double-down or put an end to it.
Empty seats = less concession revenue.
Plus, the visuals makes it appear the NFL is a league in decline.
We will see. The teams put themselves at risk but the outcome is tbd.
He must still harbor dreams of filling Cossell's shoes on Monday Night Football—and this may the issue that finally opens doors for him in some weird way.
“The network I’m sure did not agree to air the silly political grievances of millionare players. It’s likely the NFL is violating the contract by not controlling the actions of it’s players.”
I would bet on the networks fulfilling the obligations of their NFL contracts as there seems to be no violation of those contracts or the CBA.
However, when the contracts are negotiated, the price may decrease somewhat.
Concession revenue is a drop in the bucket.
TV contracts, season ticket sales and merchandizing are how the real cash is generated.
Steve Bisciotti, the owner, is a smart man. Surprised it took so long to figure this out .....
This years season tickets were sold last spring and summer.
Wait until people don’t renew their season tickets in 2018. Then you will see NFL teams reeling from lack of sales.
That letter that management sent out was pathetic drivel
Didn’t come close to addressing the issue
Michael Vick played for thirteen seasons.
Oh! The inhumanity!
Heartless white working stiffs disrespecting whining multimillionaire blacks who get paid more in a couple of months to play a game than most working taxpayers will make working their butts off their entire lifetimes.
Is Vick in the NFL today?
I was careful not to. But it hasn’t been that long since he was on a team.
They are all upstanding citizens who spend their free time helping little old ladies cross the street.
Bad product (i.e. an Anti-American stance) equals bad sales. Who knew?
JoMa
LOL
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