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Get the lawyers involved. Sue the NFL into bankruptcy.

This is what happens when NFL bean-counters hire bottom-of-the-
shit-barrel employees.

Executives from Papa John's, the official pizza company of the
NFL, expressed disappointment on a conference call Wednesday
about the league's ongoing player protests during the national
anthem.

"The NFL has hurt us," company founder and CEO John Schnatter
said. "We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not
resolve this."

Executives said the company has pulled much of its NFL
television advertising and that the NFL has responded by giving
the company additional future spots.

"Leadership starts at the top, and this is an example of poor
leadership," Schnatter said, noting he thought the issue had
been "nipped in the bud" a year and a half ago.

In revising sales estimates for the next quarter, Papa John's
president and chief operating officer Steve Ritchie said on the
call that the NFL deal was the primary suspect behind the
decline and that "we expect it to persist unless a solution is
put in place."

Ritchie said that research has found that Papa John's has been
the most recognized sponsor associated with the NFL for two
years running, which he said means the company's performance can
track with that of the league.

Papa John's has a deal with not only the NFL, but also with 23
individual teams.

Company executives declined to disclose exactly how much money
in projected sales Papa John's lost from its association with
the NFL and declining ratings, which mean fewer people are
ordering their product for game days, they said.

Papa John's stock was down 8.5 percent on Wednesday.

ESPN reached out to 18 NFL official sponsors in the last few
days and asked the companies about its current relationship with
the league and if any marketing programs had been changed due to
the turmoil. Only five sponsors responded with a comment.

Verizon spokesperson Jim Gerace wrote via email that "our
discussions with any partner are between us and while we haven't
done anything different, we don't discuss future plans."

"We are not going to critique their performance in public just
as I wouldn't expect them to critique ours," Gerace added.

A Hyundai spokesperson said in a statement, "Hyundai
participated in constant dialogue with the league to discuss all
aspects of our partnership, including national anthem protests.
We've been pleased with the frequency and openness of those
conversations."

A spokesperson for Dannon, whose Oikos brand has an official NFL
deal, said: "We continue to monitor the situation carefully and
have not made changes to our advertising or related plans."

Nike and Anheuser-Busch referred to previously issued statements.

League sponsors that either didn't return a message after 24
hours or declined comment included: PepsiCo, Mars, Visa,
Campbell's Soup, Procter & Gamble, Castrol, Bose, McDonald's,
Nationwide, Microsoft, USAA, Marriott and Bridgestone.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21250448/nfl-sponsor-papa- john-not-happy-anthem-protests

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