It is if the
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What is the point of forced patriotism?
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It is if the
BobTheCoward
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The NFL executives pierced the issue by adding their protest in at the start of games.
lobosrul5
Philosopher
The NFL could've done the right thing and canceled that contract, since it clearly creates a conflict of interest. I think I saw they are being paid around $6 million from the DOJ, for the length of contract not even per year. For a league that pays its commissioner some $32 million a year you'd think they could rather easily afford to do so.
xjx388
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I remember there was a player who got fined because he wore Beats headphones in public and not Bose, which the NFL has some kind of deal with.
I think the issue more than anything else is representing the league publicly. If they can fine you for wearing the wrong headphones, I don't see any difference in fining you for making the league look bad in any other way. Players have the option of staying in the locker room so they don't have to be patriotic.
I think the issue more than anything else is representing the league publicly. If they can fine you for wearing the wrong headphones, I don't see any difference in fining you for making the league look bad in any other way. Players have the option of staying in the locker room so they don't have to be patriotic.
Are there any details of this deal?
lobosrul5
Philosopher
Its... complicated. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nfl-sideline-anthem/
Flake and fellow Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain issued a report stating that the Defense Department had been paying for patriotic displays in football and other sports between 2011 and 2014:
Contrary to the public statements made by DOD and the NFL, the majority of the contracts — 72 of the 122 contracts we analyzed — clearly show that DOD paid for patriotic tributes at professional football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer games. These paid tributes included on-field color guard, enlistment and reenlistment ceremonies, performances of the national anthem, full-field flag details, ceremonial first pitches͕ and puck drops. The National Guard paid teams for the “opportunity” to sponsor military appreciation nights and to recognize its birthday. It paid the Buffalo Bills to sponsor its Salute to the Service game. DOD even paid teams for the “opportunity” to perform surprise welcome home promotions for troops returning from deployments and to recognize wounded warriors. While well intentioned, we wonder just how many of these displays included a disclaimer that these events were in fact sponsored by the DOD at taxpayer expense. Even with that disclosure, it is hard to understand how a team accepting taxpayer funds to sponsor a military appreciation game, or to recognize wounded warriors or returning troops, can be construed as anything other than paid patriotism.
ETA: DOJ is definitely not right. DOD.
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Crossbow
Seeking Honesty and Sanity
Wow!
I knew that DOD did sponsor things like race cars and such, but I had no idea that they were so involved.
Ugh! Another good example of our tax dollars at work.
Your post certainly is illustrative of what the left thinks of this country.
The founders loved Jesus too!
Most players don't make "vast amounts of money", and their careers don't last too long. I had a student whose dad was a former Raiders lineman. Nice guy, but very poor and his knees were all shot to hell.
If that were the case, the NFL would simply not play the anthem at all. Since they're choosing to keep it in place AND trying to prevent kneeling, they're sending a rather strong message. Couple this with the fact the owners of the teams are almost all white, the players are mostly black, and they're protesting police treatment of blacks, and the racial overtones are hard to ignore.
lobosrul5
Philosopher
Not vast sums, but the rookie minimum is now $480,000. Even a 3 year career should just about set someone up for life if they make good investments. But it wasn't that way even in the 1990's. Until about 1980 it wasn't uncommon for some players to get an off-season job.
You realize those players don't actually see $480,000 if they make that, right? State and local taxes at that bracket are what? Almost 50%? And agent fees are another 3%. So after a three year career, a player has made about $600,000, and of course has had living expenses they've had to pay for. That's not exactly a fortune. They also are likely to have serious health issues the rest of their lives.
lobosrul5
Philosopher
Take home pay would be $280,000 even in Cali. Live cheap, and you could have 500,000 after 3 years. Set for life, OK maybe not, but thats a huge headstart for a 25 year old. The NFL now covers players for life as far as healthcare. They chose to be greedy and didn't do that for past players before a certain point though.
https://www.taxformcalculator.com/tax/480000.html
Crossbow
Seeking Honesty and Sanity
If money is an issue for any of these players, there are many other things that can do besides making money donations.
I did volunteer work when I was in college and I barely made $6,000 per year.
There are other paycheck deductions, of course. FICA is going to take almost 10%. I don't know what other fees there are specific to the NFL, except the 3% agent fee I mentioned. And you're pretending these guys simply pocket their salaries without having any other expenses. Life is expensive, and it isn't any cheaper for NFL players.
And it's nice the NFL pays for healthcare, but that still doesn't change the fact that a lot of players are going to suffer from health problems the rest of their lives.
It's not the glamorous job most people think it is.
lobosrul5
Philosopher
That calculator is already including FICA which BTW is only 1.5% on income above $127,000. And anyone, even in if they play in LA or SF can live off way, way less than $280,000 a year if they choose to do so.
I've watched some of the training camp behind the scenes stuff that has been done. No its not as glamorous is people seem to think for the low level players. Especially linemen.
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That doesn't seem to have anything to do with my point that most players don't have "vast amounts of wealth". They make good money for a short time, and then are on their own, and often have to deal with debilitating health problems.
"CTE found in 99% of studied brains from deceased NFL players"
https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/health/cte-nfl-players-brains-study/index.html
FICA is 6% for the first $128,000. Anything above that, you don't pay. Medicare is 1.5% for the first $200,000 and then 2.4% for anything above that.
https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc751
If these players have healthcare for life now, I don't know if they're still paying into Medicare. And from what I've read, the NFL covers health care for five years after the person stops playing. Do you have a link?
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