Posted on 04/25/2018 2:37:10 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
NFL owners, players and league executives, about 30 in all, convened urgently at the league’s headquarters in New York City in October, nearly a month after President Donald Trump began deriding the league and its players over protests during the national anthem.
“Let’s make sure that we keep this confidential,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said to begin the session.
The New York Times has obtained an audio recording of the roughly three-hour meeting, and several people in the room corroborated details of the gathering.
New England Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft pointed to another “elephant in the room.”
“This kneeling,” he said.
“The problem we have is, we have a president who will use that as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America,” said Kraft.
The owners kept returning to one bottom-line issue: Large numbers of fans and sponsors had become angry about the protests. Boycotts had been threatened and jerseys burned and — most worrisome — TV ratings were declining.
Pegula complained that the league was “under assault.” He unloaded a dizzying flurry of nautical metaphors to describe their predicament. “To me, this is like a glacier moving into the ocean,” he said. “We’re getting hit with a tsunami.” He expressed his wish that the league never be “a glacier crawling into the ocean.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I wonder what remarks the NYTimes don’t feel like relaying... like pro Trump remarks...
I would take this with a grain of salt, but if this is true I’m 100% done with the Patriots, and there is no bigger Pats fan than I am. Don’t like this at all. I was planning on coming back for the 2018 season and rooting only for the Pats.
“The problem we have is, we have a president who will use that as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America,” said Kraft, who is a longtime supporter of Trump’s. “It’s divisive and it’s horrible.”
Completely tone deaf.
Hard to imagine these guys are as wealthy as they are after reading this.
If someone in my neighborhood saw this weirdo, they'd call the sheriff.
The flag protest controversy is just a red herring for these NFL owners. What really pissed them off about Trump’s rant was the part that didn’t get much coverage — where he complained that NFL games have become a colossal, penalty-filled bore.
The owner of the "Patriots" doesn't have a problem with the kneeling, millionaire s**t stirrers - his problem is with those who object.
This exemplifies why nothing NFL will ever touch a screen in my home ever again. EVER.
The problem are people like New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft who approve of disparaging America.
Maybe he can give back all the 10’s of millions he has made at taxpayer expense as his sign of protest.
Its the owner’s fault for NOT stopping this $hit when it started. They allowed it to spiral out of control and they are paying the price.
No one has a RIGHT to protest on their employer’s time. If they want to protest off the field, that is their right, but on the filed, they do NOT have a right to protest.
Anyone believing otherwise, try it at your job and see what happens!
The owners can fine players for the wrong color socks and for putting tape or message on the helmets, don’t tell me they can’t punish the players for starting crap on the field at work.
-—“The problem we have is, we have a president who will use that as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America,” said Kraft.-—
Robert Kraft said that? I was floored when I read this.
Is he a turncoat or did I have him wrong all along?
“All in favor of continuing to shoot our toes off, say aye”
When the Broncos (now donkeys) took a knee I changed the channel and have not watched another MFL game since.
LOL...If someone in my neighborhood saw this weirdo, they’d likely call me because I own a backhoe.
lol
Sure sign of a liberal: Feel instead of THINK...............
I’d call a barber................
We suspected. Now we know....................
No, the problem is your customers do not wish to be insulted by your employees.
And the fact that NFL games have become a colossal, penalty-filled bore.
These punk owners want to act as if there was no problem until Trump weighted in, when we all know they’d been trying to pretend it was something other than what it was for more than a year before the president said a single word.
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