Running head: EFFECTS OF NHL PROTESTS 1

Effects of NHL Protests

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Introduction

NFL protests are meant to turn the spotlight on the injustices and to confront bias that has

been embraced. The protesting players are locked in their stances regarding the righteousness of

the protests. The authority of the country has been trying to stir the pot against their actions by

calling Americans to sign a petition asking NFL to make it mandatory to stand during the

national anthem. President Donald Trump is attacking the protesters for kneeling during the

national anthem. The protesters want the president to end the brutality of police in America.

Below are some of the effects of protests by the NFL.

The protest has led to a reaction by the American president. The president does not want

anyone to disrespect the American flag by kneeling down, and he thinks that this is a random

pointless movement. However, John legend denied the accusations of the protesters being

disrespectful to the American flag and indicated that the president encouraged hostile foreign

power to infiltrate their electoral process (Bramhall, 2017). The protesters are accusing Donald

Trump of suppressing millions of Americans because they did not vote him, which according to

the protesters is wrong because the American flag stands for unity. The president ordered the

NFL commissioners and the owners of the league to ban the protests.

The protests have made the league suffer negative effects in terms of and fans. The

owners of the NFL and fans have raised the concerns on the protests and are taking it that the

players are not patriotic to their country. The owners indicate that they have a greater

responsibility to the people who support them, and they take benefits from people who watch the

league (Bramhall, 2017). Therefore, when the players are protesting, the fans who watch the

league have reduced; and their benefits have reduced as well.

EFFECTS OF NHL PROTESTS 3

The protests have reportedly led to a high decline in the advertising companies’ ratings

and the sales of tickets. The viewership of the NFL games has reduced by 7.5 percent when

compared with the last season. Cowboys are among the teams that participate in the NFL and

their players are not protesting; hence, they are likely not to take part in the league (Philips,

2017). The absence of some teams in the NFL is likely to reduce the revenue of the advertising

companies, and the returns owners get from the league. Jones a commissioner in Cowboys says

that if the players are disrespecting the national flag, they are likely not to take part in the games.

The protests have spilled over to other white sports games like hockey affecting the

players through dismissal from the teams. For instance, J.T. Brown is one of the black hockey

players who got involved in the NFL protests when he raised his fist in the Back Power symbol

when the national anthem was in progress. The protests have been extended to the high school

football players. In Texas last month, two black high school football players were disqualified

from their teams fore kneeling and raising their fists when the national anthem was in progress.

The players were forced to get off the uniforms in presence of the teammates and dismissed

completely from the team (Philips, 2017).

In conclusion, the controversy behind protesting has gotten out of hands, with protesters

pointing the violation of American rights by the president. In actual sense, the protests have been

an indication of how voices and actions of black people are ignored and discredited. The Black

Americans claim is that they would rather deal with the bad feeling of seeing the flag

disrespected, than waking up daily with news of black people killed brutally killed by police.
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References

Bramhall, B. (2017). An Employment Stance on Taking a Knee. Journal of Legal Aspects of

Sport, 27(2), 109-126.

Philips, C. J. (2017, October 2). The unfortunate consequences of kneeling for the national

anthem. Retrieved April 18, 2018, from USA Today:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/unfortunate-consequences-kneeling-

national-anthem-article-1.3557009