https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2017/11/01/papa-johns-ceo-blames-nfl-declining-sales-due-mishandling-anthem-protests/821368001/
Sunday, November 12, 2017
NFL Protests affect Papa John's Sales
The Papa John's CEO, John Schnatter, came out last week and commented on the NFL kneeling protest and talked about how he is blaming the NFL for mishandling the protests which has decreases the sales recently. This in my opinion is a big problem with the NFL because Papa John's is the NFL's biggest pizza sponsor and if they this keeps up I feel like Papa John's will eventually try and move away from the NFL if these protests continue to occur. Even the ratings of the NFL games has decreases by 5% during the first five weeks and down 18.7% from 2015. NFL is going to need to figure out what to do with the protests because if companies keep feeling like the NFL is going to affect their business and sales numbers than many will try and stay as far from the NFL because they do not want their sales number to decrease. Roger Goodell should begin handing out fines in my opinion to the players who kneel during the national anthem to try and finally put a halt to the protests. The players need to see that them kneeling is doing more bad than good, it is causing problems with the number of viewers each week and the merchandise and ticket sales that have been decreasing from week to week. John Schnatter made a good mood going public with his own opinion about how the protests is affecting his business in a bad way and needs to try and get the NFL to make some type of change.
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It is interesting to see how much professional sports has a part in the success of businesses like papa johns. I feel like the decline in viewers for games definitely has affected their sales but I think other factors have a bigger impact on their sales. As it said in the article businesses are using the NFL as a scapegoat. Something to watch will be to see how many companies come out and say things similar to what Schnatter said or completely drop their connection with the NFL due to the anthem protests.
ReplyDeleteThis year there have been many large companies publicly advertising their stance on political issues and it has seemed like the majority of companies that have done this have experienced adverse repercussions. Starbucks did this after Trump's first travel ban and shortly after their stock price dropped and sales dropped. I think companies will catch on to the negative effects that come with the inclusion of politics in with business and will choose to stay out of it.
ReplyDeletePapa Johns is a big sponsor for the NFL, so I doubt they would leave because if the NFL does work the kneeling problem out, they ratings would go back to how they were, one would think. I think that it is pretty interesting to see how the NFL has become such a big marketing league. The Nike jerseys coming out a couple years ago was a huge deal. If Papa Johns does decide to leave, I think it would be the wrong move.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. PaPa Johns CEO is really taking a risk commenting on such a controversial topic like this one. It seems that the NFL has been less about football, and the overall season is being overshadowed with these controversies. The decline in viewers and poor ratings as of late directly correlate with the players deciding to kneel. I personally know people that do not watch anymore due to the kneeling. If the NFL can find an agreement with the players I think that over time the ratings and viewers can get back to the level they were before.
ReplyDeleteI think that it will be too hard that PAPA Johns just go away from the NFL. Since is one of the biggest sponsors, it will cost them a lot of money. If they go away from the NFL, probably they will lose much more that the sales that they've lost by now. The role that the play in the NFL is significant, as sponsors, but it is important to think that the protest won't be forever. In fact, I don't think that those lost in PAPA Johns were due to the protest, but the decrease on rating might be due to it. On the other hand, it is important to mention that some point the ratings will go up, once protest are done. In conclusion, I don't think that PAPA Johns has lose some revenue due to the NFL protest.
ReplyDeleteI think handing out fines to players who kneel due to the injustices they face in America will only cause viewership to go down even more. Yes, they'd be forced to stand because of the money, but it would only be for the money and they would find another form of kneeling. Viewers who don't watch because players kneel would come back but I think they would lose equal if not more viewers if they were to start handing out fines to people not doing anything wrong constitutionally.
ReplyDeleteThe whole national anthem protests trend is very interesting. The player who started the movement in the NFL, Colin Kaepernick, has recently seen as an unwanted player and has been kept off active rosters for seemingly no other reason then his political activism. While Papa Johns may want Goddell to stop the protests, he has recently began talking about a lawsuit against NFL ownders for collusion against KAepernick, which shows support for the protest. Im interested to see how this will develop through the rest of the season.
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