{"id":31108,"date":"2018-09-14T14:43:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T18:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/?p=31108"},"modified":"2018-09-14T14:43:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T18:43:08","slug":"player-protests-cause-football-fans-to-flee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/14\/player-protests-cause-football-fans-to-flee\/","title":{"rendered":"Player Protests Cause Football Fans to Flee"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the third consecutive year, the NFL\u2019s first week ratings were lower<\/a>\u00a0than the previous season opener. The Washington Redskins, which boasts 50 straight years of sellout crowds, is risking that streak being broken<\/a>\u00a0for this weekend\u2019s first home game despite having removed almost 10,000 seats over the past few seasons and discounting<\/a>\u00a0tickets on Groupon. Beer and food prices are falling<\/a>\u00a0at stadiums across the league as a potential way to lure fans back.<\/p>\n

Of course, well-paid<\/a>\u00a0players ending their insistence<\/a>\u00a0on being able to protest racism\/police violence\/Colin Kaepernick\u2019s not making the cut\/America in general by kneeling or not showing up at all during the presentation of the colors and the national anthem could probably help boost ratings and ticket sales.\u00a0 But the NFL capitulated<\/a>\u00a0to the players, and is now apparently paying the price.<\/p>\n

\"\"In a new Daily Caller commentary<\/a>, Project 21<\/a>\u00a0member Christopher Arps<\/a>\u00a0writes that he is once again \u201cambivalent\u201d about football season. \u201cWith ratings down for opening weekend,\u201d Christopher noted, \u201cI suspect many NFL fans are just like me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher added:<\/p>\n

In my view, fans believe it is disrespectful to kneel during the national anthem. We don\u2019t want to see or hear someone\u2019s political speech or opinions. We want to escape for a few hours to watch great athletes entertain us. Especially when we\u2019ve paid a lot of money to watch.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know many jobs in America where you can protest societal grievances on your employer\u2019s premises and time. I also don\u2019t know many jobs where your employer has to allow you to negatively affect their financial bottom line.<\/p>\n

Kaepernick and any NFL player has a right to express their First Amendment rights on their own time with their own resources. That\u2019s the rub for so many of us content to miss the games.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His love for the game, Christopher explained, is compromised by the leftist hijacking of sport to become a tool of their protests. And protesting things like the claim that police violence is on the rise and targeting black Americans is pushing a false narrative<\/a>\u00a0undoubtedly causing once-loyal fans to equate players to Chicken Little and the boy who cried wolf:<\/p>\n

[L]eftists have turned protest, once a tool of the truly powerless to get the attention of the powerful, into the first resort for anything they are unhappy about or don\u2019t agree with.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t like the outcome of an election? Protest! Don\u2019t like the outcome of a jury verdict? Protest! Don\u2019t like the fact you lost your job as a starting quarterback because you sucked? Protest!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Christopher didn\u2019t watch any of the games last weekend. He may follow his beloved Dallas Cowboys. He may also take an interest in the post-season. But he won\u2019t be watching like he did in the past. That means he won\u2019t be watching the commercials or taking part in game-day traditions of snacking and such. On a large scale, this is going to affect NFL revenues and impact<\/a>\u00a0the crusading players. Maybe that will allow them to truly understand how important it is to fans that they respect the American flag.<\/p>\n

To read Christopher’s Daily Caller commentary in its entirety, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the third consecutive year, the NFL\u2019s first week ratings were lower\u00a0than the previous season opener. The Washington Redskins, which boasts 50 straight years of sellout crowds, is risking that streak being broken\u00a0for this weekend\u2019s first home game despite having removed almost 10,000 seats over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":31110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,36],"tags":[77],"yoast_head":"\nPlayer Protests Cause Football Fans to Flee - The National Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/14\/player-protests-cause-football-fans-to-flee\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Almasi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/14\/player-protests-cause-football-fans-to-flee\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/14\/player-protests-cause-football-fans-to-flee\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Almasi\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/986101645c65e8d001dc8de54beb396d\"},\"headline\":\"Player Protests Cause Football Fans to Flee\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-14T18:43:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-14T18:43:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/14\/player-protests-cause-football-fans-to-flee\/\"},\"wordCount\":551,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/14\/player-protests-cause-football-fans-to-flee\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NFLkneel-min.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"ConservativeBlog.org\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\",\"Project 21\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/14\/player-protests-cause-football-fans-to-flee\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/14\/player-protests-cause-football-fans-to-flee\/\",\"name\":\"Player Protests Cause Football Fans to Flee - 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