XPost: alt.politics.trump, alt.business, alt.rush-limbaugh
XPost: alt.sports.football.pro.denver-broncos

At least two advertisers have asked that their commercials no
longer run during KOA's radio broadcasts of Denver Broncos games
because they're upset by national anthem-related demonstrations
prior to the kickoff of NFL games.

"Yeah, there's been a couple" that have pulled out, confirms Tim
Hager, market manager for iHeartMedia's Denver stations,
including KOA, "and that's the rationale."

The trend of kneeling during the national anthem to decry police
brutality against people of color, among other things, began
last year thanks to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin
Kaepernick, and Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, a onetime
college teammate of Kaepernick's, was an early adapter. After
Marshall lost some endorsements over his actions, he attempted
to show that he wasn't anti-cop by appearing in a Denver Police
Department video in which he went through a training exercise.
The footage actually showed Marshall taking aim at a simulated
black suspect.

Controversy bubbled up again last month, when teams throughout
the league took part in various protests before and during the
playing of the anthem — and this time around, there was fallout
for Von Miller, the Broncos' biggest star. Miller's decision to
take a knee, along with dozens of teammates, was followed by
reports that Phil Long Dealerships had dropped him as an
endorser. Miller's reps subsequently insisted that his deal with
the company had lapsed months earlier and negotiations were
ongoing — but a statement from the firm strongly suggested that
he shouldn't hold his breath waiting for a new pact to be
signed. It read in part: "When we bring in celebrities to
represent us, we run the risk of being misinterpreted."

In recent weeks, team president John Elway called for politics
to be kept out of football — a plea our Chris Walker branded as
brazen hypocrisy, since earlier this year, Elway had written a
letter endorsing Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's nominee
for the U.S. Supreme Court, on stationery stamped with the
Broncos' letterhead. Nonetheless, Hager points out, "the
protests are no longer occurring with the Broncos."

So why did the advertisers — Hager doesn't name them, but we
hear through the grapevine that one is a car dealership — decide
to stop advertising during the games? Hager characterizes it as
general displeasure with the NFL over the controversy.

In response, he says, "we immediately found ways for the
advertisers to get their message out and support what they
wanted to support. And we've also been airing the national
anthem in our game broadcasts, which we didn't do before this
year. So we've found ways to strengthen what we're doing."

Television ratings for NFL contests are reportedly down by 7.5
percent compared to this time last year, and many pundits think
the protests are one of the main reasons. However, Hager says
KOA's broadcasts, starring new booth-mates Dave Logan and Rick
Lewis, haven't suffered the same fate.

"Quite frankly, numbers going down on TV are the absolute best
thing for me," he allows. "When a TV number goes down, we go up.
When somebody won't camp in front of a TV for that entire three
and a half hours, they get in their car and do something — and
when they do that, they turn us on. So our ratings are actually
higher, knock on wood."

Likewise, he doesn't see any signs of a massive advertising
exodus. He acknowledges that "there was a groundswell
immediately after [the September protest] happened, but that's
calmed down. Right now, I'm not seeing anything that has me
overly concerned."

Good thing, because iHeartMedia recently launched Orange and
Blue Radio, a station at 760 AM that boasts of being all
Broncos, all the time. And more kneeling by Denver players could
be very bad for business.

http://www.westword.com/news/amazon-headquarters-possible-impact- on-denver-9606152

--
"Perfectville @PerfectvillePod
Hey @Broncos...thank you for taking Vance Joseph. Us Dolfans
appreciate you! #finsup
1:06 PM - Jan 8, 2017":

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