NFL enlists Christian right to fight Barney Frank

[KEW]

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I sent three letters today, spaced out by a few hours each. The first letter was to the NFL. The second was a copy of one of my letters to an advertiser (Anheuser-Busch). The third was a copy of my letter to my senator. I hope we'll all try to fill his inbox this week...a bunch of letters at once will make more of an impact than piecemeal ones, especially as the season hasn't started yet.

I'm not naive enough to think they'll change their minds instantly or completely, but I'd like them to think first next time they decide to write a letter. Perhaps they'll at least think twice before so cavalierly recommending a wholesale ban. The good thing is that this is easy. We should all be able to fire off an email.

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E-mail sent will send another one in the morning...

The NFL really burns me up with there stance here..Without gambling the NFL would still be second to baseball..

[Uglyowl]

I am sure you drink one of these:

http://www.anheuser-busch.com/beer/beer.html

[oldbookguy]

great job!

My letter:
Roger Goodell
Commissioner
National Football League
280 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Sir,

As a fan of football since my youth in the 1960’s, today I am as disappointed in the NFL as when my beloved Colts lost to the Jets way back when.

Your position taken concerning individual choices American Citizens are allowed to make in the privacy of my home and a desire to deny me those rights………..

Well, I still have rights, and the one I have decided today to exercise is to, sadly, tune out the NFL this year. No, I will not be buying any new Colts hats or jerseys. And no, I will not be tuning into the Sunday games, sorry, your sponsors will get one less viewer for their money.

Meanwhile, back at the computer, I will continue playing a leisurely game of poker now and then, maybe while watching something important, the History Channel. And hey, if I get lucky, they may even be showing the series on the American Revolution and how we came to have freedoms to begin with!

Sincerely,

obg

[whangarei]

Obg, we have had our disagreements in the past (and I still question your assertion that you are just a common sense guy given your assumption that the Obama dinners are chosen by lottery, but that's a different story [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]) but that is a very good letter. Here's mine:

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Dear Mr. Goodell,

As a lifetime fan of the Chicago Bears, the NFL has meant a lot to me. The games offered one of the few bonding opportunities I had with my father.

I understand however that you are lobbying Congress to take away a freedom that is very important to me. That freedom is playing poker online from the comfort of my home. The NFL was instrumental in getting legislation passed last year which made playing poker more difficult, and you are now lobbying against well-meaning liberterian members of Congress who are trying to reinstate our ability to play poker online.

I have been a subscriber to NFL Season Ticket since I no longer live in the Chicago area. I have chosen not to renew my membership this year due to your lobbying efforts to prevent me from playing poker in the comfort of my own home. In fact I will make sure not to contribute any revenue to your organization until you distinguish between your dislike for sports betting and my ability to play online poker.

Respectfully,

whangarei

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[Kegs]

Don't forget to write your local teams. If they have a VP of Public Relations make sure you send to him. Also send to the team owner and the director of marketing.

[Mondogarage]

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Maybe we should all write to the NFL and some of their to express our displeasure. I'm not suggesting poker players boycott football and beer, but I think we could tell them we'll keep this in mind when deciding what to buy and what to watch.

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If you're not prepared to, in fact, boycott the NFL and everything related to it (NFL highlights shows, NFL coverage, NFL advertisers, etc.), then the NFL has no reason to take any of your complaints seriously.

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Do you have proof of that? Why don't you think they'll care if we significantly reduce our patronage of the league and their products?

My concern with claiming a total boycott is that it won't be believable. However, if we state we're not buying jerseys or any of their cable/satellite packages, we'll be in the realm of the doable.

However, if you're going to totally boycott them, you should write and tell them so.

Goodall's email address is [email protected] .

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So you're saying that taking lesser action *will* convince the NFL, but taking the most powerful action a single individual can take will not? That's odd logic.

"Significantly reduce" is meaningless. So you watch two less games on broadcast or cable per week? That's meaningless. You go from having Sunday Ticket, buying a couple jerseys, maybe even game tickets, to ZERO, and you multiply that by a few hundred thousand PPA members, then you've got something.

Lower concession sales
Lower TV ratings across the board
Lower licensed merchandise sales
Lower share of paid fantasy league money
Etc.

Here's the thing - you have to be willing to back it up by, in fact, boycotting. What's not believeable about that, if the ratings and the dollars show the effects?

If all you claim is "we're not buying your jerseys and extra cable packages", that's hardly a drop in the bucket to overall league revenues. And further, they know that if you're still watching your 3-4 games a Sunday on Fox and ESPN, they've got you hook, line, and sinker, because at that point, they know you need their entertainment more than they need what little bit of money you'd spend on their ancillaries every year. Because the lion's share is in the TV contracts.

If you want to be prepared to go to war with the NFL over their support of UIGEA, then you need to actually be prepared to go to war. Because they are.

[Legislurker]

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Maybe we should all write to the NFL and some of their to express our displeasure. I'm not suggesting poker players boycott football and beer, but I think we could tell them we'll keep this in mind when deciding what to buy and what to watch.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're not prepared to, in fact, boycott the NFL and everything related to it (NFL highlights shows, NFL coverage, NFL advertisers, etc.), then the NFL has no reason to take any of your complaints seriously.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you have proof of that? Why don't you think they'll care if we significantly reduce our patronage of the league and their products?

My concern with claiming a total boycott is that it won't be believable. However, if we state we're not buying jerseys or any of their cable/satellite packages, we'll be in the realm of the doable.

However, if you're going to totally boycott them, you should write and tell them so.

Goodall's email address is [email protected] .

[/ QUOTE ]

So you're saying that taking lesser action *will* convince the NFL, but taking the most powerful action a single individual can take will not? That's odd logic.

"Significantly reduce" is meaningless. So you watch two less games on broadcast or cable per week? That's meaningless. You go from having Sunday Ticket, buying a couple jerseys, maybe even game tickets, to ZERO, and you multiply that by a few hundred thousand PPA members, then you've got something.

Lower concession sales
Lower TV ratings across the board
Lower licensed merchandise sales
Lower share of paid fantasy league money
Etc.

Here's the thing - you have to be willing to back it up by, in fact, boycotting. What's not believeable about that, if the ratings and the dollars show the effects?

If all you claim is "we're not buying your jerseys and extra cable packages", that's hardly a drop in the bucket to overall league revenues. And further, they know that if you're still watching your 3-4 games a Sunday on Fox and ESPN, they've got you hook, line, and sinker, because at that point, they know you need their entertainment more than they need what little bit of money you'd spend on their ancillaries every year. Because the lion's share is in the TV contracts.

If you want to be prepared to go to war with the NFL over their support of UIGEA, then you need to actually be prepared to go to war. Because they are.

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Two things. Something is better than nothing. Calling, writing, emailing, etc is all we can do now. Not buying Sunday Ticket is one thing that will make them notice.

The other is yeah, we need ot go to war. But that requires the PPA. We just can't mobilize hundreds of thousands without their database and resources. Im willing to bet we could get 100 people in a week to start organizing a war, but the PPA prefers top shelf cocktails and fine dining with our dues. We need them, we need to be them, but Card Player is a shill for Harrah's in this. The NFL shouldn't be our primary boycott. Harrah's should be.

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
So you're saying that taking lesser action *will* convince the NFL, but taking the most powerful action a single individual can take will not? That's odd logic.

"Significantly reduce" is meaningless. So you watch two less games on broadcast or cable per week? That's meaningless. You go from having Sunday Ticket, buying a couple jerseys, maybe even game tickets, to ZERO, and you multiply that by a few hundred thousand PPA members, then you've got something.

Lower concession sales
Lower TV ratings across the board
Lower licensed merchandise sales
Lower share of paid fantasy league money
Etc.

Here's the thing - you have to be willing to back it up by, in fact, boycotting. What's not believeable about that, if the ratings and the dollars show the effects?

If all you claim is "we're not buying your jerseys and extra cable packages", that's hardly a drop in the bucket to overall league revenues. And further, they know that if you're still watching your 3-4 games a Sunday on Fox and ESPN, they've got you hook, line, and sinker, because at that point, they know you need their entertainment more than they need what little bit of money you'd spend on their ancillaries every year. Because the lion's share is in the TV contracts.

If you want to be prepared to go to war with the NFL over their support of UIGEA, then you need to actually be prepared to go to war. Because they are.

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Thanks for sharing your opinion.

If you'd like to lead a boycott, I encourage you to go for it. You don't need me to agree with your approach. Just take the lead and do it.

The approach I chose to take was to gradually get the ball rolling with some emails to them informing them that we disapprove while being cordial enough to give them an opportunity to respond. If we get nasty (or no) responses, we can use these to get people on board with a boycott, and AT THAT TIME we can escalate our letters up to total boycotts (which could be only a couple of weeks from now). After all, it's not like they're going to quake in their boots over a twenty person boycott.

Anyway, I appoint you leader of the boycott effort. I won't watch any NFL this year just on general principle, so I'm in. What's next?

[oldbookguy]

I am already in, read my post, the sponsors will get one less viewer for their money.

When the time comes, and soon I hope, we will need to send letters to ALL news outlets from many of us who are on board.

Maybe if one picks up the story, even if presented as a few nuts, a momentum will build.

obg

[DeliciousBass]

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I am already in, read my post, the sponsors will get one less viewer for their money.

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I actually think the "trim down" approach is a better one. As it stands, I'll be watching my local games and sending a letter to those that advertise during said broadcasts to inform them I won't be purchasing their product because they were on during an NFL game.

So while droping Sunday ticket, game tickets, etc are important...FOX and CBS receiving questions from their sponsors as to why they're getting letters saying Mr. DBass is not going to buy Miracle Whip because they advertise during NFL games and "what's this about the league trying to restrict freedom?" might do a bit more.

In other words I'm boycotting those that support the NFL more directly.