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Papa John's Believes NFL is Responsible for Dropped Pizza Sales

“NFL leadership has hurt Papa John’s shareholders.”
Photo by Mark J. Rebilas

Papa John is pissed at Papa Goodell. Papa John believes that Papa Goodell is causing people to be less desirous of pizza. Papa John wants to see change in the NFL, pronto.

The pizza entrepreneur John Schnatter lashed out at NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for not making strong enough decisions regarding player protests against inequality, and has blamed the NFL for a drop in their sales, according to Bloomberg.

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"The NFL has hurt us by not resolving the current debacle to the players' and owners' satisfaction," Schnatter, who serves as the pizza chain's chairman and chief executive officer, said on a conference call. "NFL leadership has hurt Papa John's shareholders."

He later added, per Bloomberg, "Leadership starts at the top, and this is an example of poor leadership."

I suppose you could draw a correlative line between NFL ratings and pizza sales—that makes sense. But this feels a little extreme: the notion that Goodell could resolve NFL protests by being a stronger leader. The concept that Goodell could achieve harmony within the organization implies the players are protesting the NFL or that the protests exist within the parameters of the NFL, which is simply wrong. Like, Papa John surely can't be upset that NFL owners haven't solved disproportionate police brutality and institutional racism directed toward minorities?

So what could he possibly mean when he says, "to the players' and owners' satisfaction?"

Per an article from Huffington Post from last September:

Papa John's Schnatter… gave $1,000 to the Trump cause in August, according to filings. A Papa John's spokesman didn't respond to an email with questions for Schnatter.

Ah yes. It's a pretty safe bet the "satisfaction" he's looking for involves silencing this debate. Please, let us all just forget this whole racial injustice thing, so that we can stuff our faces with more cardboard-tasting pizza. Make Papa John's Pizza Great Again.