The NFL’s apparent campaign to use anthem protests to turn themselves into the most polarizing brand in America, has nearly succeeded.
The proof of that success came this week in a Morning Consult survey of most polarizing brands in America in 2018. While the NFL did not seize the top spot in this infamous list, it ranked a whole lot higher than any sports league ever should.
Of the 29 brands on the list, the NFL ranked as the 6th least polarizing. The brands rated more polarizing than the NFL, in order, were: Trump Hotels, CNN. Fox News, NBC News, and the New York Times. The NFL tied with MSNBC for the 6th most polarizing brand.
Do not adjust your screens, you read that right: People find the NFL just as polarizing as Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews.
The five brands ranked just behind, meaning people find them less polarizing than the NFL, were: ABC News, CBS News, the Washington Post, Fox Business, and BET. The next least polarizing sports brand on the list was the NBA, which came in tied at 19 with Comedy Central. Followed by NASCAR, which came in tied for last place at 29, with NBC Universal.
Major League Baseball did not qualify for this undignified list. A result which jives with a report released in October, which strongly suggested that MLB’s popularity had surged.
Breitbart News Network came in 18th on the list.
Last week, the NFL rejected a Super Bowl ad offered by a veterans group, because the NFL disapproved of the ad using the words “Please Stand.” Within 24 hours of that news becoming public, the NFL announced that the $90 million in social justice spending the league agreed to with the players, was only “just the beginning.”
Moves like that should really help the NFL beat out Trump Hotels for the top spot in the list of most polarizing brands.