Will you go back? - Page 2 - New England Patriots Forums

townes · 03-14-2011, 11:38 AM

I'll go right back to watching the NFL if it comes back in full this season, however if they go to replacements there's a really good chance i'll never watch them again. Sports no longer capture my interest the way they did when i was a kid but i'm still an avid follower of the Patriots, replacements would likely kill that and i'd have a hard time rooting for any team that used replacements.

***Mike in 333*** · 03-14-2011, 11:55 AM

From the perspective of a season ticket holder:
I'll go back, as PatsDeb said above, some of my money is already here and I'll send them the rest in a week or so. We have been promised refunds for any missed games as cash or credit toward future tickets. The one thing that could get me to rethink this would be if there is an attempt by owners to put a lesser product on the field. Right now we have the best of the best playing in the NFL, if the owners try to field a league using replacement players that would definitely be a deal breaker. The only reason to do something like that would be to keep the money paid by season ticket holders in advance.
I can be fairly patient and I think most other NFL fans will be unless it looks like we're being dragged, as pawns, into the dispute.

signbabybrady · 03-14-2011, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armen Da Pats Fan

I have been thinking about this and I like what some folks are proposing, which is to never buy any NFL licensed apparel or go to games again.

I am lucky enough to live in the Boston area now (after 35 years behind enemy lines in South Florida where I HAD to get DirectTV NFL Sunday Ticket or suffer through 14 Dolphins games a year!), so I can watch the team on local TV and get all the highlight and analysis shows.

We'll see.

I really don't know how I will react but I am amazed these idiots could not come to a compromise together.

I could be wrong but there is a problem with this thoery (blackouts aside) I would imagine that the NFL makes a ton more on their deals with the networks then they do on merchandise and ticket sales. I say blackouts aside because if everyone followed thru with this boycott we would all have to leave the area to watch and I dont know if the NFL owes refunds to the networks if they do blackout an area.

I think the merchandise aspect is a good idea and I think as fans we should all do something to cut our NFL costs down to spite them in some way but I dont think boycotting games in person but not on TV really effects anything as you are still consuming the product.

TriplecHamp · 03-14-2011, 01:31 PM

Nope, I'm totally done with football. Pretty much everybody here is, that's why were all still here.

***Tunescribe*** · 03-14-2011, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatsDeb

I wish there was something like this we could do, but there isn't enough organization for fans involved. I am a season ticket holder and it burns me up that Bob Kraft still expects my money on March 31st or he'll give my seat away, yet if there is no game I wonder how fast I'll get my money back? He's already been holding over $300 of mine and 60,000 of my closest friends since December for the AFC championship game that never was. How about returning the interest you've made on that Bob to the fans you profess to love so much? How about giving us a 30 day extension on our ticket payments until we see where this is all going? PFFFFTTT. I won't hold my breath.

I recently renewed my season tickets wondering the same things. There should be more considerations from the team when things like this arise. Aside from that, I've always chafed a bit at being invoiced for season tickets in February when other teams don't require full payment until June. Kraft should offer a discount for renewing six months before the season starts.

letekro · 03-14-2011, 01:58 PM

I find it absurd that fans would take this personally and especially absurd that some of you are already plotting your own form of protest/revenge against Bob Kraft. Were any of you under the impression that Bob Kraft or any other owner bought into the NFL to promote peace and harmony among mankind? Sure, a business owner may derive satisfaction from having a satisfied customer base, but he will always negotiate and operate with the interests of his business first and foremost in mind (even if it upsets his customers), and in fact, he owes a fiduciary duty to the business and its other owners to do just that. Some of you just sound unbelievably naive.

InRodWeRust · 03-14-2011, 02:29 PM

People visiting a Patriots message board in the middle of March where there's literally nothing going on are going to be the most hardcore Patriot addicts. I don't think anyone here could possibly give the Patriots up . . . unless they died or went into a coma

***Tunescribe*** · 03-14-2011, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by letekro

I find it absurd that fans would take this personally and especially absurd that some of you are already plotting your own form of protest/revenge against Bob Kraft. Were any of you under the impression that Bob Kraft or any other owner bought into the NFL to promote peace and harmony among mankind? Sure, a business owner may derive satisfaction from having a satisfied customer base, but he will always negotiate and operate with the interests of his business first and foremost in mind (even if it upsets his customers), and in fact, he owes a fiduciary duty to the business and its other owners to do just that. Some of you just sound unbelievably naive.

It's more than that. Sports are part of the fabric of society, and Kraft himself has said he considers himself the custodian of a public trust. Whether you believe he's sincere about that is up to you. But if he's not, he should be. The Green Bay Packers are the ultimate example of that philosophy in action.

***PatsDeb*** · 03-14-2011, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by letekro

I find it absurd that fans would take this personally and especially absurd that some of you are already plotting your own form of protest/revenge against Bob Kraft. Were any of you under the impression that Bob Kraft or any other owner bought into the NFL to promote peace and harmony among mankind? Sure, a business owner may derive satisfaction from having a satisfied customer base, but he will always negotiate and operate with the interests of his business first and foremost in mind (even if it upsets his customers), and in fact, he owes a fiduciary duty to the business and its other owners to do just that. Some of you just sound unbelievably naive.

We're not naive, we're just PO'd. If it weren't for us fans who buy his tickets, his merchandise, and advertise his brand all over the world, Kraft would have bumpkus. I'm not fooled that his number one goal is to become rich off the Pats. Hell, it would be mine too if I was in his shoes. But, it irks me when he and people like Roger Goodell profess that the fans are number one on their list, when in fact we are way down that list, and pretty much powerless to do anything about it at times like these. We're allowed to spout our meaningless threats of desertion on here.

letekro · 03-14-2011, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tunescribe

It's more than that. Sports are part of the fabric of society, and Kraft himself has said he considers himself the custodian of a public trust. Whether you believe he's sincere about that is up to you. But if he's not, he should be. The Green Bay Packers are the ultimate example of that philosophy in action.

Again, his legal duty is to the corporation, which operates solely to make a profit. I haven't seen the Packers' organizational documents, but their Board likely has a duty to operate in the best interests of its members (its "shareholders", i.e., its fans), which is a wholly different legal reality. Of course if you're arguing that moral responsibility takes precedence over legal duty, that's a whole different argument.