On Tuesday, the veterans group AMVETS announced that the NFL had rejected their $30,000 ad, to be placed in their Super Bowl LII programs, featuring American soldiers carrying the flag, with the hashtag #PleaseStand. The hashtag obviously referred to the controversial practice by many NFL players of kneeling for the anthem to protest alleged police racism and brutality. “The NFL said it does not want to take a position on that,” said Joe Chenelly, national director of AMVETS. “Really, by not letting us run an ad, we think they are taking a position.”
The NFL’s Vice President of Communications Brian McCarthy said that the Super Bowl wasn’t the time for politicking:
The Super Bowl game program is designed for fans to commemorate and celebrate the game, players, teams and the Super Bowl. It’s never been a place for advertising that could be considered by some as a political statement. The NFL has long supported the military and veterans and will again salute our service members in the Super Bowl with memorable on-field moments that will be televised as part of the game.
But it’s obviously untrue that the NFL hasn’t taken a stance on kneeling. They were fine with running an ad that stated “Please Honor Our Veterans” or “Please Stand for Our Veterans.” They just didn’t want anyone suggesting that Americans ought to stand for the American flag or American national anthem.
Stupidity like this is one of the reasons the NFL has been losing popularity. They’ve routinely engaged in politics at the Super Bowl — just two years ago, Beyonce performed at the Super Bowl in a Black Panther outfit, with her backup dancers holding up raised fists. Lady Gaga performed at the 2017 Super Bowl, and kept her performance relatively apolitical — but that’s not to say that the NFL would have done anything had she not. The NFL’s decision not to tell players to stand for the anthem or stay in the locker room was obviously political, too.
But when it comes to veterans standing for the flag and encouraging others to do so, too, that’s where the NFL draws the line.
All of which suggests that the leadership of the NFL needs to take better stock of its fan base. The NFL’s fan base is evenly spit between Republicans and Democrats — and Americans generally have evidenced little enthusiasm for the kneeling. As of October 2016, the leading reason cited by those who tuned out of the NFL for tuning out was furor over the anthem.
This shouldn’t have been a difficult call from the NFL. If they wanted an ad on the other side, they surely could have taken one. But they didn’t. And so the NFL, by chickening out, continues to diminish its own popularity.