Fan Sues Saints, Wants Season Ticket Refund Over NFL Players Protest

A season-ticket holder has just filed a lawsuit against the New Orleans Saints demanding the organization refunds his money because some players have disrespected the national anthem before games this season. The fan, Lee Dragna, filed the lawsuit on Monday against the NFL team for $8,000 plus lawyer’s fees. In the lawsuit, he claims, the protest by some players against police brutality and racial injustice has prevented him and his family from enjoying the games.

He bought the tickets for the “entertainment and intellectual enjoyment”, and said he would have never made the purchase had he known NFL players would “use Saints football games as a platform for protests.” Further, the suit alleges Dragna hasn’t attended a game since players protested the first home game, on September 17.

The suit said,

They passed directly in front of where the petitioner and his guests were seated. Many of the fans in that area booed and cursed at the Saints players.

 

Apparently, these players were following the lead of (former San Francisco 49ers quarterback) Colin Kaepernick by disrespecting the flag, the anthem, the USA and those who have served and are serving the USA in our military.   

On Tuesday, Dragna told The New Orleans Advocate,

That the rowdy, angry reaction of the people around his seats has made the tickets unusable by him and his family, as well as customers he would otherwise give the tickets to.

 

He said the behavior of some fans upset by the protests — cursing, spilling beer — is “borderline dangerous,” though he said he thinks the responsibility for that behavior ultimately rests not with the fans but with owner Tom Benson.

 

“The Saints created that behavior by condoning it,” he said.

 

“It’s my thought pattern that (players) should not be allowed (to protest),” he said. “If you sell tickets to a gaming event for entertainment, you should not be allowed to turn it political.”

According to ESPN, the Saints declined to comment, saying they had escalated the situation to the legal department.  However, an anonymous source said the organization is “taking this very seriously, and this fan best have his facts in order.”

“The Saints will come back at this fan who has brought forth incorrect information in his statement with everything to defend the team, organization and players,” the source said.

Two days ago, Saint’s running back Mark Ingram II lashed out at Dragna on social media.. ESPN notes that Ingram was one of 10 Saint players who sat on the bench during the national anthem in week 3, in response to President Trump’s comments about NFL players (see: Trump Goes Nuclear: Trump Sports Feud Escalates: Demands NFL Chief “Tells Them To Stand”).

The one time we protested an anthem was an away game. After a team meeting we decided to kneel as one BEFORE the anthem was played and STAND united as one DURING the anthem! Good luck dude ????? https://t.co/28huwGP0Pu

— Mark Ingram II (@MarkIngram22) December 13, 2017

According to Gabe Feldman, director of Tulane University’s Sports Law Program,

“Fans do not have legal standing or a cause of action simply because they are unhappy with how a team performs or acts on the field. If fans were allowed to sue for breach of contract every time they were disappointed with the performance or conduct of a player, there would be an unending string of lawsuits across the country.”

He further explained:  “An NFL ticket allows you to enter a stadium to watch a football game, but it does not guarantee that the players will act in ways that do not upset you — either athletically or politically.”

And as the story of Dragna’s lawsuit circulates across millions of American households, many of whom have stepped away from NFL stadiums and television sets on Sundays (see: NFL Ratings Slump Worsens As ESPN Forced To Slash $80 Million In Salary Costs.), one wonders: did Dragna start the (inevitable) blowback of angry NFL fans asking teams and Goodell for their money back?

Goodell-Jones Feud Escalates As NFL Accuses Cowboys Owner Of "Conduct Damaging To The League"

The NFL has decided to escalate its growing feud with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones by alleging that his efforts to "sabotage contract negotiations" with commissioner Roger Goodell is tantamount to conduct that is "detrimental to the league"s best interests."  Ironically, as the Wall Street Journal points out, proving that an owner"s conduct is "detrimental to the league" is exactly what the NFL would have to prove in order to fine Jones and/or impose other penalties on him or his team.

The NFL accused Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of trying to sabotage its contract negotiations with commissioner Roger Goodell, calling his conduct “detrimental to the league’s best interests.”

 

That language, included in a letter sent to Jones’s attorney on Wednesday and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, escalates a growing conflict between the league and one of its most powerful owners.

 

The tension has grown so severe that the topic of removing Jones has been discussed by at least some owners, according to three people familiar with the matter. That type of drastic action would require the league showing conduct detrimental to the league—which is exactly the language the league used in its November letter to Jones’s attorney, David Boies.

As the New York Times notes, Jones" relationship with Goodell and the NFL has soured since Goodell suspended the Cowboys’ star running back, Ezekiel Elliott, in mid-August.  After the suspension, Jones seemingly retaliated by trying to slow discussions about the commissioner’s new pay package, which the owners on the compensation committee had been working on for months.

Jones has said in recent weeks that he has only been trying to increase the transparency of the contract negotiations and give more owners a voice in the process. Jones voted along with every other owner in May to approve an extension, but he has said that much has changed since then and that Goodell’s new contract should reflect these issues, which include the protests during the national anthem at N.F.L. games.

 

But two weeks ago, Jones, a nonvoting member of the compensation committee, escalated the dispute when he threatened to sue the league and the six owners on the committee if they did not bend to his will.

Not surprisingly, in a radio interview yesterday, Jones was dismissive of his risk of being banished from the league and described any chatter about his ouster as “ridiculous.”

Meanwhile, as the silly bickering and political posturing continues in the NFL, fans are increasingly sending the signal that they"ve had just about enough...as evidenced by Monday Night Football this past week posting the 4th worst ratings in ESPN history...perhaps it"s time to take the hint?

The NFL Is Now The Least Popular Professional Sports League In America

While mainstream media outlets like the New York Times have continued to assert that the dip in NFL ratings that began last season is in no way connected to the controversy surrounding players kneeling during the National Anthem, yet another poll has reaffirmed what many football fans have suspected for weeks: The protests have transformed the NFL into the least popular professional sports league in America.

From the end of August to the end of September, the favorable ratings for the NFL have dropped from 57% to 44%, and it has the highest unfavorable rating – 40 percent – of any big sport, according to the Winston Group survey provided exclusively to Secrets.

Worse for football, which was already seeing lower TV ratings and empty stadium seats, the month of protests and calls from President Trump for fans to boycott the league or “walk out” of games if they see players taking a knee has apparently turned off men aged 34-54 – one of the league’s most important demographics and a troubling sign that the league isn’t in touch with its fans. The Winston Poll from the Washington-based Winston Group found that the attitude of those fans went from an August rating of 73 percent favorable and 19 percent unfavorable to 42 percent favorable and 47 percent unfavorable, a remarkable turn against the sport.

According to analysis of the poll cited by the Washington Examiner, the "more critically for the NFL, the fall off in favorables occurred among important audiences. Among males, NFL favorables fell 23 percent, going from 68 percent to 45 percent. In looking at a more specific audience, males 34-54, NFL favorables fell 31 percent, going from 73 percent to 42 percent. Among this group the NFL has a surprising negative image, as it went from +54 percent in August to -5 percent in September."

The Winston Poll was of brand images for the NFL, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and college football and basketball. It was of 1,000 registered voters and taken August 29-30 and then again Sept. 28 to Sept. 29.

September Winston Poll

• MLB/63 percent favorable to 16 percent unfavorable.


• College football/51 percent favorable to 21 percent unfavorable.


• NBA/46 percent favorable to 28 percent unfavorable.


• College basketball/45 percent favorable to 25 percent unfavorable.


• NFL/44 percent favorable to 40 percent unfavorable

And for anybody who believes the controversy is confined to a red state vs. blue state issue, data shows that NFL is equally well-liked among Republicans and Democrats – suggesting that both liberals and conservatives are outraged over what Trump characterized as "disrespecting our heritage."

The survey isn’t the first to document this phenomenon: A J.D. Power survey showed that NFL fans did in fact tune out in droves because of the disrespect and protest of the National Anthem before games.

The pollster said it asked more than 9,200 people who attended either one football, basketball or hockey game whether they tuned into fewer games and why. Twenty-six percent of those who watched fewer games last season said they were put off by the anthem protests.

Blowback? NFL Ticket Sales Crash 17.9% As Owners Lose Control Of Players

Probably just a coincidence... or just transitory, but The online ticket reseller TickPick told The Washington Examiner that sales have dropped 17.9 percent, far more than the usual Week Three fall...

• 17.9 percent decrease in NFL orders this week compared to the previous week.


• Last year the drop was 10.8 percent in orders on Monday & Tuesday following Week Three games.

"We have seen a massive decrease in NFL ticket purchases this past week in comparison to years past. Week 3 seems to usually have less ticket orders than week 2, but this year ticket purchases are down more than 7 percent from this time last year," said TickPick"s Jack Slingland.

"While we can"t specify if this decrease is due to the president"s comments, player and owner protests, play on the field, or simply the continued division of consumer"s media attention, the conversation around the NFL this week has focused on the president"s comments as well as the players" and owners" reaction. As viewers continue to abandon their NFL Sunday habits, both the number of ticket sales and the purchase price of tickets will drop," he told us.

And despite orders from The NFL that players will stand for the National Anthem this week, The Hill reports that at least three Miami Dolphins players (Julius Thomas, Michael Thomas, & Kenny Stills) took a knee during the playing of the national anthem Sunday.

Saints players took a knee before the anthem began, but then stood as it was played.

But as ESPN reports, NFL owners are struggling to retain control of their players...

"It certainly was my takeaway that the commissioner was looking for a way for the protests to end," DeMaurice Smith (NFL Players Association executive director) said Friday when asked about his 30-minute conversation with Goodell (NFL commissioner), while declining to offer specifics about what was discussed. Goodell declined to comment, but a league source did not dispute Smith"s account.

"Knowing the league the way I know the league, they are first and foremost concerned about the impact on their business," Smith said. "That"s always their first concern. I mean, who are we kidding?"

Nobody was kidding when many of the NFL"s highest-profile owners, including Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, expressed concerns last week that the optics of hundreds of players kneeling, sitting or remaining in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem had alienated many fans at a particularly perilous moment for the NFL.

TV ratings for many of this year"s games have continued a slide that began last season; some league sponsors have grown skittish about the backlash; and most surveys have shown that a majority of NFL fans are turned off by the politicization of the game.

To the commissioner"s suggestion that the protests should end, Smith said,

"My only response was, "I don"t have the power to tell our players what to do." ... At the end of the day, this is a group of players who are exercising their freedom.

There is no room for me to snap my fingers and tell our players, "It"s time for you to give up a freedom." Just the idea offends me. It"s almost as if the players are being asked, "What"s it going to take for you to stop asking to be free or to be treated like an American?""

Early on, one of the players pointedly told the assembled owners -- in particular Kraft, who this year gave his longtime friend Trump a Super Bowl 51 champions" ring -- "We know a lot of you are in with Trump. This meeting is going on because the players think that some of the people that they work for are with his overall agenda, and that"s not in the players" favor."

"We can"t just tell them to stop," Goodell said of the players" protests.

Many owners immediately argued otherwise.

"We need to find a way where Trump doesn"t win," one said, and that meant using leverage as employers to end the protests.

Another said, "We"ll get our guys in line."

Political infighting contonues to stink up the place...

Some owners were angry that Joe Lockhart, the NFL"s executive vice president of communications who worked as President Bill Clinton"s press secretary, had told reporters on a Monday conference call that the players" words and actions on the subjects of police brutality and racism were "what real locker room talk is."

It was a brazen shot at Trump, who was captured in a 2005 video talking, in explicit terms, about grabbing women by their vaginas but later dismissed the video"s contents as "locker room banter."

Owners, many of whom had supported Trump and seven of whom had donated at least $1 million to him, felt that Lockhart had unnecessarily politicized the league"s response.

One owner barked angrily at Lockhart, who declined to comment about the matter, echoing a sentiment that most of them -- especially Jones -- shared: Nobody wanted to engage in a political mud fight with the White House, even if "they were all pissed at the president," a league source said.

As ESPN concludes, by the end of their meetings, the players and owners weren"t as unified as they would later publicly state, but as one owner says, "We"ve gotten out of crisis management and into, "How do we do this correctly?" There was a chance that we didn"t deal with it correctly -- and it had passed."

Perhaps after this week"s collapse in ticket sales - and potentially a few more lost advertising dollars - the owners may have some different ideas on how to control their players in their place of work.

Angry NFL Fans Lash Out, Burn Jerseys Over Protests: "You Can Take Your NFL And Shove It"

Update: Some angry NFL fans have chosen a different way to express their dissatisfaction with the league and some of its players. As Yahoo reports, Steelers" offensive-lineman Alejandro Villanueva"s jersey becomes an overnight best-seller after he stands for anthem.

Villanueva already had a modicum of fame thanks to a commercial with USAA, the financial services company for military members and their families. The 29-year-old is a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan before returning to football (he played at Army) in 2014. He has played in 35 games over the past two-plus seasons with Pittsburgh, starting all three games so far this year.

On Saturday and Sunday, as NFL players discussed how to handle the callous remarks of President Donald Trump, who called players who protest during the national anthem “sons of bitches” and that they should be fired, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin told his players that they must be unified – either they would be in agreement of what to do on the field, or no one from the team would be on the field.

Since they couldn’t come to a consensus, Pittsburgh players and coaches were supposed to stay in the locker room, though it was later amended to the team’s tunnel near the Soldier Field turf because of timing.

As the rest of his teammates stood in the shadows, however, Villanueva was about 20 feet in front of them, his hand over his heart, during the playing of the anthem.

His teammates were reportedly surprised that Villanueva stood by himself, as the edict was that the entire team was to show unity. Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin indicated Sunday night that he did not want offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva to stand for the national anthem, instead of sitting it out with the rest of his teammates...

Tomlin said in a post-game press conference that he was looking for “100 percent participation” in whatever course of action the team took during the national anthem.  When asked by a reporter about Villanueva coming out for the anthem, Tomlin said, “Like I said, I was looking for 100 percent participation, we were gonna be respectful of our football team.”

*  *  *

As we detailed earlier, with all of the grandstanding and emotional reactions from the NFL over the weekend, the sport"s smartest executives seemingly proved that they have no idea they"re fighting a battle that simply can"t be won. 

While it is clear as day to anyone who can disassociate themselves from the emotional response to being verbally attacked by a tweetstorm (as truly "terrifying" as such a thing can be), the NFL doesn"t seem to understand that while almost every American can agree that football is a great sport, roughly 50% of them will vehemently disagree with whatever political stance any given player or league exec decides to publicly announce.  And, since the NFL"s future depends on selling overpriced ad spots to massive corporations looking for a consistent number of eyeballs, alienating any group of viewers, for whatever reason, is just bad for business.

But don"t take our word for it...here"s just a couple of examples for what the fans had to say over the weekend.

"It"s a disgrace. It"s disgusting. They"re getting paid to do a job...to play ball and do whatever the fans want them to do."

"They"re paying these guys to do a job.  They"re not supposed to be involved in politics."

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

Meanwhile, this Ravens fan simply burned his jersey to the tune of the national anthem...

...while this Kansas City Chiefs fan (or "former" fan as it were) was a little more vocal on exactly why he made the decision to burn all of his NFL gear. 

"You can take your Kansas City Chiefs and you can take your NFL and you can shove it."

"Now, think about that and think about the millions a year that you people are making to play a game while we got soldiers overseas that get paid minimum wage to put their lives on the line for that flag."

"Protest does not belong in our NFL sports.  It"s a game."

But these videos were hardly unique as fans all around the country torched their NFL gear...

I have been a Steelers fan since 1966, but no more. pic.twitter.com/9W4oMl1EhF

— Starving1 (@ArvinGibbs) September 24, 2017

Brendan Finn, a New York Giants season ticket holder since the "80s, even decided to burn his tickets...

Finally, the owner of the Palmetto Alehouse in South Carolina took things to a whole new level after declaring that his restaurant would not air another NFL game until "all players pay respect to our flag and our country!!!"

"NFL will never be played at Palmetto Alehouse until all players pay respect to our flag and our country!!!" said the business owner to FOX Carolina, calling the players both entitled and arrogant individuals who use their position for advancement.

McCraw, an ex-military member, says he found the actions of NFL players protesting the national anthem by kneeling, disrespectful. He said he feels that athletes and people who"ve attained celebrity status should not be telling people what or what not to do because they don"t share the same struggles as people who live normal lives.

"I do not support anyone that thinks that our country or our flag is not worth standing for," he explained.

"Our president is our president, but I don"t stand in unity with everything he says," said the restaurant owner. "This is a country of one people and we need to stand for our flag."

"There are issues in this country that need to be addressed, but disrespecting our flag and our country is not the way to do it," said McCraw.

And as far as how the restaurant owner"s decision will affect business, McCraw says he"s not losing any sleep over it.

"It"s no concern for me," said McCraw. "I"m an ex-military guy. My whole concept is about being local and supporting the community. It is not about supporting a concept that is disrespectful to our flag or our country, and I don"t think the people that come to my bar will feel that this is disrespectful to them."

FOX Carolina 21

So, to all the NFL execs who can"t help but politicize their league, good luck with all those "make-good" advertisements that will come out of your own pockets when your viewership hits an inevitable dip over the coming weeks.