The NFL is reportedly having trouble getting enough butts in the seats. Some photos of the stands look like shots of the National Mall during Trump’s inauguration – a lot of empty real estate.
The National Anthem protest is one obvious reason why, which is puzzling to me. If I had tickets, I’d still go. If I wanted to buy tickets, I’d still buy tickets. I wouldn’t let a protest change my mind unless the protest was about why beer at the stadium is $8. That’s a protest I could get behind.
Yes, I’m also behind the player’s views on police brutality. I’ve written about it. Like many, I’m appalled that’s it’s seemingly OK in the eyes of the law for police to shoot and kill people – especially black men – with little or no provocation and suffer no consequences. We not only need mass retraining programs for every police department in this country, but new laws – not just departmental procedures – that rewrite the rules of engagement. This “shoot to kill” mentality is obscene.
There. Got that off my chest.
But I’d still go to the games if I wanted to. I’m not a fan of mixing sports or music with politics and issues because sports and music are the very things that help us forget about politics and issues.
To be honest, if I ran a team right now, I’d stop playing the National Anthem altogether. Not because of the protests or the reaction to them, but because: A) It’s an awful song, and B) It’s always poorly performed (they should only have brass bands perform it).
I’m not kidding. There’s no law that says it has to be played before sporting contests. So dump it. And if you think that’s somehow unpatriotic, I submit to you that so is heading to the concession stand for a hot dog or checking your phone for your fantasy football scores. But then you never do those things when the anthem’s played, right? And at home, you stand, sing and take off your hat, right? Riiight.
The anthem protest is only part of the NFL’s problems, though. I think there are other reasons fewer people go to games.
First, the obvious: Going to an NFL game is expensive. Franchises will tell you they have tickets as low as $15, but those are for the nosebleed seats. I’m not poor, but pro sports priced me out years ago. Unless I want to go alone, I’m looking at anywhere from $200 to $500 for two to five tickets, parking, concessions etc., which is just not worth it for three hours of entertainment. Maybe if they offered free shoulder massages.
Two, traffic. A lot of stadiums these days are located downtown, and if there’s one thing that America is lousy at, it’s designing urban traffic systems. And if there’s anything that NFL franchises are worse at than the United States is at designing urban traffic systems, it’s figuring out where to park people. It’s like they’re surprised people drove.
Three, too many damned penalties. Everything’s a penalty these days, which is why there’s no longer a flow to games. Now that I’ve mentioned it, you’ll notice it. Sorry.
Four, TV timeouts. When you watch a game in person, play suddenly stops 10 or so times a game with no explanation – right in the middle of dramatic drives – and the players mill around on the field drinking water and chatting like they’re at a social club. That’s a TV timeout. I hate them. And if hate them, other fans hate them, too.
Five, watching games on TV is simply a better experience. You get replays, commentary, you don’t notice the TV timeouts as much, and, best of all, you have your own refrigerator.
I just looked. There are no $8 beers in there.
Image credit: C_osett
Ha, love it! By the way Andy that lazy boy seating is hard to beat.
You must truly be a troll now because us #yoopers #westand.
Would any of the NFL owners ever be clever enough to play, “We Shall Overcome,” instead?
“To honor American, please stand for one of our national anthems…”
Loved this column. I mostly agree with everything you said. I’ve been a long suffering Lions Season Ticket holder for over 20 years. the last two years, my best friend and I sold half the games and gave away the Pre-Season games. I like going, but not as much as I used to. I’m finally glad to see someone say something about the National Anthem that I have thought for a long time. I always stand for the anthem and take off my hat when I’m wearing one. However, I understand the protest and am sympathetic to their view. I would like them to not play the anthem because as you said, it is a awful song and is very hard to sing. I have always thought America The Beautiful would be a better anthem because it is a beautiful song and much easier to sing. I have never understood why athletic events outside of the Olympics play the anthem. It isn’t as if when I report in the morning to my office that we stand for the anthem before we work, so why should the work place of a gridiron or ball field be any different?
Yes, attendance is down at NFL games and the protests are a major share of the problem. Not the over all problem, but still a part of the problem. Collin Kaepernick’s real anti cop bias is a big part opf the problem. He is also unemployed. His unemployment (even though it has not helped his case) is not due to kneeling to show his protesting of police killings of blacks it is because he may have been sacked/tackled too many times and his hidden injuries are starting to show up. The average NFL player lasts about 8 to 10 years or so.
Then he claimed that he was going to donate 1 million dollars to various charities. One of the “charities” that he donated $25,000 to was a group called “Assata’s Daughters”. This organization is dedicated to Assata Shakur. A member of the black liberation army. Assata murdered a New Jersey state trooper in 1973 or so. She was convicted of 1st degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. She somehow escaped in 1979 and managed to get to Cuba where she was granted asylem. She is still there. She does have some lesser crimes that have been charged to her record.
Then C.K. wore socks that depicted police officers as pigs/swine. That was ok to the NFL brass. It did not endear him to fans of the NFL in flyover country.
Then the Dallas Cowboys painted the names of 5 Texas police officer that died in a very violent manner in about a short time. The NFL brass got their panties in a bunch and ordered to players to remove the names from their helmets. It was not a proper place or time to have a display like that on a football helmet. OK to wear socks showing police officers as pigs, but not ok to honor murdered police officers.
Budweiser has been considering whether of not to drop their advertising and support of the NFL. Not any other sporting venue, just the NFL. They have a phone number that is asking buyers of their product to weigh in on the idea. If you either for or against them dropping or not dropping their support of the NFL, you can call 1-800-342-5283 and register your personal view on the matter. I did so a few minutes ago, so I know that the survey is still on going. When will it end? I do not know.
As for the specious idea that you can shoot to wound and not cause any other damage to a human being. That is largely a myth put forth by Hollywood movies and those who have no real idea that what can happen with the trajectory of a bullet when it hits a human body. A bully will go right through a human body if it does not hit bone. Once it hits a bone, all bets are off. It can richocet and go on another trajectory inside the human body. Go watch some of the Mythbuster videos on u-tube about such things. They do not cover all the ways a bullet acts in a human body, they still do a good job.This comment is long enough.
Jim III believes everything the voices in his head tell him. Maybe he belongs in an “asylem”.
Fred is up to his usual name calling and marginalizing people that do not agree with his point of view. Fred is just acting like what a modern day liberal acts like. He cannot refute the items that I put forth in my post. C.K. did wear socks depicting police officers as pigs. Assata is in Cuba because she was granted asylum. The NFL got their panties all knotted up over the Cowboys putting the names of the murdered cops on their helmets.
Budweiser does have an 800 number for people to call and register their opinion of Budweiser dropping their sponsorship of the NFL.
Fred must be a student saul alinsky (sp), lenin, mao, goebbels(sp) and stalin among others who marginalized those who did not conform to their way of thinking.
Fred like a lot of liberals cannot understand the phrase “those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it” I have heard this quote attributed to different authors so I will not cite someone. Usually not understanding history usually refers to the bad things in history, rarely, if ever, the good things. Whatever might of been the good things in human history.
One of things I will agree with Andrew Heller is the national anthem. I remember a teacher in Civics class or maybe some class like civics talking about the Star Spangled Banner. This was over 50 years ago. The teacher brought it up because we were required to get a subscription to Time magazine for class. Time had a article about the difficulty of a professional singer having in singing the anthem. Why was the Star Spangled Banner selected over some of the other songs no one is quite sure why. America the Beautiful along some of the other songs are easier to sing. One story about the music of the Star Spangled Banner comes from a British army/navy drinking melody. That melody, along with the words, sounded better and better the more drunker you got. Maybe the selection committee drank too much and selected that melody for the Star Spangled Banner.
Jim III, why would I even bother trying to refute your nonsense? If you made up your mind to believe crazy talk, no amount of energy I waste on you will make a difference.
The big problem with all of this “police brutality” protesting is that it is based on lies. Hands Up Don’t Shoot never happened. The “Gentle Giant” was not shot in the back while his hands were up. In fact he was attacking the police officer, trying to take his gun and use it to kill the officer.
Let’s just be honest. Liberals want to see white police officers murdered left and right. There is no end to liberal blood lust against law enforcement.
Liberals like Andy Heller write articles designed to try and deflect readers from the reality that millions of patriotic Americans refuse to watch the NFL because of their unAmerican hate. You have failed Andy. Ticket prices, beer prices, traffic and parking never kept us away before these unAmerican losers began their BS. The reason for the decline in revenue is because liberals are losers. We are done with your BS and tantrums. There is no validity to your tantrums. You have no moral or ethical authority in any way.
You are nothing but lying crybabies.
And working dad proves again he is an intolerant hater. Your sweeping generalizations of half of Americans is crude and disappointing. I guess it is to be expected from you. You are a sad man.
Go play with your guns. They will make you feel big and manly.
Thank goodness all of the butt-hurt snowflakes like Working Dad and Jim III can go to their safe places instead of NFL games and hide from the reality of life. Those big bad NFL players and their protests are so scary!
I decided to do something constructive with the time and money I previously devoted to NFL football. I used to attend about 2 Lions home games per year. That will now be replaced by taking some young people to the gun range. I will pay for everything. They can learn about responsible firearms handling and usage. They will learn about their Second Amendment rights, which can’t be taken away by hate monger politicians. They will learn that gun grabber politicians need to be driven from office for their entire lives.
These young people will learn about safety, proper shooting techniques, hunting, firearms care and maintenance, self defense techniques, types of firearms, reloading ammunition and so much more.
We can take this negative (lying, liberal NFL “protesters”) and turn it into a HUGE positive. (expanding awarenesses of firearms and Second Amendment rights) I will make a positive difference! God Bless America!
Please take some of that money and find a good shrink. You surely need one.
You mean young white people, right?
You’re quite the racist, aren’t you? I’ll teach anybody about firearms and their Constitutional rights regardless of their race.
Whatever you say, Hoss.
I would buy your argument Andy, except for one important counterpoint: college football. College football has some of the same drawbacks you mentioned above. Yet, they have no problem selling out 100,000 seat stadiums at $80-100 a pop. The only difference between college and the pros (outside of the obvious of pros being paid) are these protests.
Andrew, Thank you for your opinion on police brutality. There are some situations indeed where the actions of the police are not acceptable. You said that officers often shoot with little or no provocation. When an officer says “Stop”, the person should stop. When the police say please exit your vehicle, then you exit your vehicle. When the officer yells “Stop” 3 or more times and the person continues to run, the officer has no idea what will come next. If the person has a weapon, he may use it on anyone in his path, and the officer needs to be prepared for a split second decision. So let’s agree that we both have some validity to our opinions.
Next: Maybe we could sing America the Beautiful, or something that acknowledges the rights we have as Americans. That is something to celebrate, and it is always a work in progress. I think that unless we acknowledge it when a huge group of fellow citizens is gathered, it might get pushed down on the list of important things for us to do. We use our rights freely, let’s celebrate that.
And last, to my fellow writers, would you please keep your personal insults out of this column. Debate is good to be a part of, but name calling, etc., should not take up all the space it does. Thank you.
Linda, please google “Deaf people shot by police in 2017”.
Another Suggestion to Play Before Football Games:
“Only in America,” recorded by the Coasters and Jay and the Americans. Patriotic as the dickens, with maybe a little cynicism, which right-wingers will not pick up on.
They may play any song they want to play. Does not have to be one of the old tub-thumpers
No, it was not the Coasters. It was the Drifters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ6NGY8ruC4