Poli-Sci: NFL to Play Black National Anthem in Week 1

[Kanye Wyoming]

What's next? Separate but equal locker rooms? Gatorade buckets? Rooms for studying game tape.

[JTQ]

This, really, is the crux of the matter.

"We can't continue to profit from this group of people unless we keep them happy enough to keep playing our game. "

This is a legitimate point. However, if you ever look at the crowd in the stands, you've got to wonder if you can continue to profit if your fan base is not happy.

[blues]

There are alternatives. The only time these guys kneel is to tie their shoes and it isn't all, 'Line up, Fall Down."

You sure about that?

(I kid, I kid...)

[Wise_A]

Injecting politics into everything is an excellent way to piss people off.

I'm on a hiatus from all my computer and gaming sites after a string of "We Support BLM" articles and announcements. Not to mention numerous articles, very often by European writers with no experience of the US, about the brutality and systemic racism of American police. Between that and their occasional handwaving freakoutery over gun control, they've successfully told me that they're not terribly interested in my readership and think I'm a despicable human being.

Personally, I'm quite happy these days to confine my sporting interests to shooting and fishing, neither of which have taken the time to tell me what my politics should be.

[RJ]

This, really, is the crux of the matter.

"We can't continue to profit from this group of people unless we keep them happy enough to keep playing our game. We feel that the critical mass in the public eye has swung far enough this was to make a calculated bet that the risk of not doing this is greater than the risk of doing it. Thanks for watching."

Agreed, and that's why I extracted it from the article.

I think in actual fact they have figured out how to transform the NFL from a Billion dollar industry to a Million dollar industry.

We'll see.

[LOKNLOD]

Agreed, and that's why I extracted it from the article.

I think in actual fact they have figured out how to transform the NFL from a Billion dollar industry to a Million dollar industry.

We'll see.

I think we overestimate our own AtlasShrugginess sometimes. NFL will do this, it's partners that advertise (Nike, etc), and they'll all continue to pay money to one another, and it won't matter because "we" collectively just don't get it. The whole thing right now is a big self-licking ice cream cone*, like when my dogs start barking and then they're all barking but none of them really know why, they're just barking because the others are barking, who are just barking because their must be something to bark about, or surely those other ones wouldn't be barking. No one wants to be the one caught not barking!






*I know I heard that the first time somewhere here, I wish I knew who to attribute it to because it gets used a lot at work.

[Nephrology]

I think what strikes me most about gestures like these (including basically every pro BLM press release/email/Tweet/etc) is that they're entirely hollow and effectively without cost to the corporation in question.

It costs the NFL nothing to play this song (to what will probably be mostly empty stadiums, thanks to COVID). It doesn't require them to actually address issues of racial inequality or racism (about the closest thing to that is that the Washington Redskins are finally *thinking about* changing their name and logo, both of which are pretty obviously racist, to be frank). It doesn't require them to address the fact that basically all NFL players - black and white - are effectively a disposable labor force for the owners, who profit from a game that will probably leave many players (including lots of reserve/practice squad players who will never make much money playing the sport) with neurological/musculoskeletal problems that they will live with for the rest of their lives.

But hey, new song.

[Cookie Monster]

This, really, is the crux of the matter.

"We can't continue to profit from this group of people unless we keep them happy enough to keep playing our game. We feel that the critical mass in the public eye has swung far enough this was to make a calculated bet that the risk of not doing this is greater than the risk of doing it. Thanks for watching."

Truth

[Suvorov]

Injecting politics into everything is an excellent way to piss people off.

As an airline pilot - I wonder how many rants against the evils of gun control or BLM I could make over the PA to my captive audience before I lost my job?

[ranger]

I quit contributions to adults playing children’s sports a long time ago. When working Americans quit supporting NFL, Nike, MSM, etc. they will finally get the message. Currently appeasing the “Woke” is profitable. It’s all about the money.