I will be analyzing the National Football League, or also known as the NFL. The NFL is a nonprofit organization stationed in the United States and they are responsible for the sport of professional football. The NFL resides of 32 teams who are distributed equally into 2 divisions, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). Furthermore, this organization is one of the four major sports in America, is the highest level professionally attainable, and consist of the best players in the country. This organization was formed in 1920 which actually started as the American Professional Football Association before eventually transforming to the National Football League. Football is one of Americas most loved sports with billions of dollars in revenue from NFL merchandises, NFL networks, and also television contracts. One would think what would possibly be a strategic issue in the NFL? Ask former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick.
Kaepernick made a decision during a pregame ceremony and refused to stand for the national anthem which he was in protest for, for the wrongdoings towards African-American/minorities in America. Kaepernick felt as if the flag was oppressing people of color due to the current Black Lives Matter movement. This decision was frowned upon by people in high places. And by people in high places, I mean President Donald Trump. After Kaepernicks course of action, President Trump stated that NFL owners should fire players who protested against the national anthem. This statement puts the NFL in a corner which results in Kaepernick going unsigned in the 2017 offseason. Kaepernick then backlashes at the NFL and files a grievance against the NFL November of 2017. Kaepernick has now become an activist in the Black Lives Matter movement and will prolong this movement until he feels that the flag resembles what it’s supposed to resemble. These course of events have put the NFL in a bad positon strategically and could cost them their brand image and and challenges their ethical decision making. This project will consist of data received via email through surveys to students at ACU. This survey will consist of questions based on certain courses of action to take if one were in this position and also general questions about business ethics when it comes to the issue of Race. Other forms of information are articles from, “The New York Times”, interviews from Colin Kaepernick himself and also Roger Goodell who is the commissioner of the NFL.