Latest in anthem protests

Less than a week after its products were literally burning up the internet after a new Colin Kaepernick ad campaign debuted, Nike is seeing its stock price return to pre-Kaepernick levels. At about $81.80 in mid-day trading, shares in the sports apparel giant are now above their level on Aug. 31, just before…

UPDATED with NFL statement, 2:15 PM: A day after word surfaced that former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been retained by Nike for the 30th anniversary round of the company’s fabled “Just do it” ads, the NFL is offering a surprising nod of support for Kaepernick. "The National Football League believes in…

Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s Chief Media and Business Officer, said the league would defer to the TV networks on how anthem protests will be handled during 2018 game telecasts. “You’ll have to talk to them,” he told a handful of reporters from outlets including Deadline after the NFL’s season preview event at the NFL…

Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s Chief Business and Media Officer, called the runup to 2022 an “inflection point” for the league’s lucrative TV rights, with the current broadcast deals expiring and tech giants likely to flex their financial might. Even so, he said the NFL is taking a wait-and-see approach to dealmaking with…

Verizon and the NFL have reached a new five-year deal to extend their streaming rights arrangement, though the wireless carrier will lose exclusive rights to the streams. Terms were not disclosed for the new deal, which takes effect in January. Compensating for the loss of exclusive wireless rights will be an expanded…

Echoing sentiments from CBS boss Leslie Moonves yesterday, NBCUniversal’s head of advertising, Linda Yaccarino, said that no advertisers have bailed on NFL broadcasts on NBC. Nevertheless, she does believe anthem protests by players have hurt ratings. “I don’t think there’s any way to prove it, but I do think it has…

Pizza chain Papa John’s reported disappointing quarterly earnings, and then execs threw gas on the fire by blaming NFL leaders for the season’s “significant decline” in TV ratings. Shares closed at $62.26, down 9%, partly due to doughy quarterly numbers but also due to the alarms raised by executives about the ongoing…

National anthem protests continued during Week 7 in the National Football League, although the headcount of those kneeling or otherwise acting out during the song has greatly diminished, mirroring media coverage of the actions. Both protesting players and those opposed to their tactics now seem locked-in on their…