 Colin Kaepernick |
The National League Football League hired Glover Park Group for a poll conducted in 2017 that asked whether ex-San Francisco 49er quarterback and free agent Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee during the playing of the national anthem, should be signed by a team, according to Yahoo Sports.
The GPG poll is expected to play an important part in the still unsigned Kaepernick’s collusion complaint against the NFL.
He claims the NFL and owners conspired to keep him off the field due to political pressure tied to his protest.
Candidate Donald Trump made great political hay over players kneeling during the anthem, a move that he views as unpatriotic.
On Fox & Friends today, Trump said, “You have to stand proudly for the national anthem, or shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. May you shouldn’t be in the country. You have to stand proudly for the national anthem. And the NFL owners did the right thing.”
Yahoo reports that GPG’s survey asked whether fans thought Kaepernick should be picked up by a team and whether his continued free agency is due to on-field performance or the refusal to stand during the anthem.
GPG found that a majority of white fans backed disciplining players for not standing for the anthem while black and Latino fans didn’t.
Republican fans backed disciplining players for kneeling during the anthem. A majority of Democrats did not.
Yahoo reports the poll also quizzed fans on other concerns such as gambling, domestic violence and player safety. Kaepernick was the only player singled out in the research.
Joe Lockhart, who was executive VP communications and PA for the NFL at the time of the poll, founded GPG. He joined Edelman this month as vice chairman for PA.
WPP owns GPG.
Even the most iconic sporting or ceremonial event can be deep-sixed by an overzealous member of the crowd, so crisis comms pros need to be prepared.
The Super Bowl, with its massive audience and sky-high ad cost, creates intense pressure to deliver. But when they hit the mark, these ads can become cultural touchstones.
Teneo has hired Nick Greenslade, deputy sports editor at The Times and Sunday Times, as managing director for its strategy and communications unit in London.
Jon Schwartz, a former SVP, communications, marketing, digital & social for the Big Ten Conference, is signing up with Prosek Partners to launch a new sports business unit.
USA Fencing has retained Finn Partners ahead of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and Paralympics Games.
Have a comment? Send it to 
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.