During President Trump’s speech endorsing worthless Senate candidate Luther “The Very” Strange, he took a moment to touch on another subject. He blasted teams who allow their players to kneel during the national anthem. He urged all Americans to boycott those teams which would include not going to their games or even watching them on TV.
What will be interesting to see is what happens when teams can no longer afford to pay the huge contracts for the players because TV and commercial revenue drops off the table. How will the kneeling players react and how will the non boycotting players treat them when it becomes a pocketbook issue. NFL teams are already feeling the pinch and advertisers are no longer willing to pay what they were before since their commercials have a much lower reach than they did two years ago.
During a Friday night political rally in Alabama, Trump called on fans to boycott teams that allow players to engage in that particular form of protest.
The league’s TV ratings have slid since quarterback Colin Kaepernick, then the leader of the San Francisco 49ers, began the trend in September 2016.
‘Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, “Get that son of a b***h off the field right now! He is fired. He’s fired!”‘ Trump boomed.
His crowd applauded and chanted ‘USA! USA!’
The outspoken president also said American football is ‘not the same game anymore’ since referees have clamped down on aggressive tackles, throwing penalty flags whenever they hear the crack of a vicious hit.
‘They are ruining the game, right?’ he asked. ‘They are ruining the game.’
Players on the field ‘want to hit,’ he complained.
‘But you know what’s hurting the game more than that?’ Trump asked. ‘When people like yourselves turn on television and you see those people taking the knee when they are playing our great National Anthem.’
‘The only thing you could do better is, if you see it – even if it’s one player – leave the stadium. I guarantee things will stop. Things will stop.’
‘Pick up and leave. Just pick up and leave.’
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