What with all the social upheaval within the NFL as a significant number of players vent their frustration by taking a knee during the national anthem, we completely overlooked the truly wounded party in all of this - the sponsors.
Or so John Schnatter would have you believe.
The CEO and founder of Papa John's pizza company, Schnatter believes the NFL has let companies like his own down in their mismanagement of the national anthem protests.
Speaking during a quarterly conference call, Schnatter demonstrated his dissatisfaction with the process thus far:
The NFL has hurt us. We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this.
Leadership starts at the top and this is an example of poor leadership.
Discussing a tangible drop in sales, Schnatter was adamant that 'the national anthem protests have been ... hurting business.'
Signifying the moment that the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started kneeling around 18 months ago, Schnatter did not cover himself in glory when suggesting that Kaepernick's protest should have been 'nipped in the bud' straight away.
Demonstrating a callous disregard for the issues being protested, Schnatter's position to possess may well be shared by others in his position.
Not the NFL's only official pizza company, Schnatter has seen the stock price of Papa John's drop more than 5% since the beginning of this NFL season.
Forged on an argument that appears to possess no actual logic or reason, some of the reactions to Schnatter's assertion have been predictably blunt.
Colin Kaepernick has done it now, taking dollars away from the billionaire founder of a pizza franchise. I'll alert the media. #PapaJohns
— Mike Wise (@MikeWiseguy) November 1, 2017
Papa John's CEO John Schnatter is trying blame sluggish sales on NFL's lingering Anthem controversy? How about blaming it on bad pizza?
— Kenny BooYah! 🖖🏾 (@KwikWarren) November 1, 2017
.@papajohns CEO John Schnatter: Last year, NFL ratings went down b/c of election. This year, it's because of "the controversy."
— Chris Otts (@christopherotts) November 1, 2017
A financial contributor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, it is not perhaps surprising that Schnatter sides with the President in determining that the NFL is the cause of his woes.
