One week after hundreds of millionaire NFL players angered fans by disrespecting the American flag, America responded with calls for a boycott.
Looking around NFL stadiums this week, America’s response has been epic — and it has experts shocked.
Sunday at an NFL game used to be the hottest ticket in town. Now some teams can’t even sell-out 27,000 seat soccer stadiums.
Here’s the scene from the Los Angeles Chargers game against the Philadelphia Eagles —
Chargers in legit trouble. Check out amount of empty seats in the best sections of StubHub Center (27,000 capacity) pic.twitter.com/2jb8GLGJSv
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 1, 2017
It wasn’t just in Los Angeles feeling the pinch. In stadium after stadium across the league, cavernous NFL stadiums were shockingly empty.
According to The Washington Examiner, ticket sales following the controversial kneeling protest plummeted by nearly 20% — and the results were apparent all across the country.
Take a look at the Atlanta Falcons crowd —
https://twitter.com/CharlieBHarper/status/914536556492394496
In Arizona, fans at the stadium were also surprised at how empty the stands were —
Lots of empty seats 🤔 pic.twitter.com/6wNkDIDcDB
— Joe Hester (@Hester_Joe) October 1, 2017
And in Cleveland, the famously loyal Browns fans didn’t bother to show up to cheer for the divisional match-up against rival Cincinnati —
"Come get some" – Browns seats pic.twitter.com/5VXSe45YOE
— Anthony Lima (@SportsBoyTony) October 1, 2017
It wasn’t just Sunday that kept fans away. Thursday Night Football’s marquee match-up between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams was also poorly attended… despite 63,000 tickets reportedly sold.
Either fans stayed home, or NFL teams are starting to inflate attendance numbers.
Either way, it’s bad for the bottom line —
From my vantage point 3 minutes to go 2ND quarter. #49ers vs #Rams pic.twitter.com/pYbJPFNV6q
— Colin Resch (@colinresch) September 22, 2017
Ouch.
Should NFL players that disrespect the American flag be IMMEDIATELY fired?
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— The Horn editorial team