Republicans Buy Sneakers Too by Clay Travis

Author:Clay Travis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

7

The NFL’s Bungled Response to Kaepernick

Whether you agree or disagree with Colin Kaepernick’s protest, you probably agree the NFL bungled its response to the protest.

That’s because at the time of Kaepernick’s protest the NFL had a specific rule in place mandating that players stand for the national anthem. It’s not that controversial of a rule either; it’s the same one that the NBA has. (In late May of 2018 the NFL implemented a new policy for the anthem, which we will discuss in detail later in this chapter.)

You may feel, as I do, that standing for the national anthem is a strange way to begin a sporting event, particularly one involving for-profit professional businesses. You may also even stand in front of your seats at an NFL game, as I do, and wonder why the United States government is providing planes to fly over stadiums before kickoff. Or even stranger, why people feel compelled to cheer so wildly at the spectacle of a military plane flying over a stadium. The reason the NFL does it isn’t complicated: NFL owners have decided that being firmly connected to the military is good for business. And if you’re an employee and your boss decides something is good for business, guess what, you do it or you leave.

It turns out that being patriotic was so good for NFL business that the league was actually paid by the different branches of the military for some of those tearful military family reunions you saw at halftimes across the country. You know, when a service member came back home, and the kids and wives or husbands all gathered on the field for a spontaneous celebration that brought tears to our eyes.

Paid. Advertising.

Yes, the NFL got money to bring dads and moms back to their kids from wars overseas and surprise the youngsters.

If that’s not cold-blooded accounting, I don’t know what is. That’s why the NFL isn’t a hero or a villain in the Colin Kaepernick story. It’s just a big business, and big business wants what’s good for big business, which is almost always more money.

I respect the cold, hard logic of a balance sheet. That’s what capitalism is, a valuation of a business from a numerical perspective. Whether you’re a superstar quarterback or you sell beer at games for minimum wage, everyone can be reduced to a number. You’re either worth what you’re being paid or more than you’re being paid. Otherwise, your job doesn’t make sense from a business perspective, and your job might be yanked away at any instant. Trust me, I know, I’ve been let go twice in the sports media business. It’s why I started Outkick seven years ago, to control my own future.

The NFL has long fancied itself as similar to the military. Coaches see themselves as field generals leading players/soldiers to battle for terrain against an evenly matched foe. They seek tangible geographic goals—first downs—while lining up in formations and battling it out on the offensive and defensive lines “in the trenches.

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