Papa John's Kicked Out of the NFL

The NFL has finally said good riddance to Papa John's.

On Wednesday, the NFL announced that it will no longer partner with Papa Johns as the official pizza and will partner with Pizza Hut instead. It was reported that the Pizza Hut was worth more than what Papa John's did for their sponsorship. NFL's deal with Pizza Hut lasts through 2021, and assuming that their owner or CEO doesn't berate the NFL for its political stances, it could be a great partnership.

The story, however, is not Pizza Hut signing on. It's that the NFL kicked Papa John's to the door, mostly because of what its founder and face of the company, "Papa" John Schnatter, said about the anthem protests and made political comments that damaged the company.

It all started when Schnatter blamed the NFL and the anthem protests for its falling sales, saying this back in November, "The NFL has hurt us by not resolving the current debacle to the players' and owners' satisfaction...Leadership starts at the top, and this is an example of poor leadership. NFL leadership has hurt Papa John's shareholders."

Many considered the comments shameful and an attempt to put the blame on falling sales somewhere else. Not only that, but it looked like Schnatter was hoping that the NFL would take notice to his comments and get rid of Roger Goodell. It didn't happen, as Goodell was signed to a contract extension.

These comments by Schnatter resulted in many saying they were done getting pizza from Papa John's, allowing other competitors to step in and take the business, which is the right way to do things when a company's leadership tarnishes the brand like this.

Although the decision to leave was mutual on both sides, like the NFL and Papa John's, it had been a very messy four months for Papa John's and it looked like the NFL just had enough of the image that Papa John's was trying to put on the NFL, which failed miserably.

I'm glad Papa John's is gone. I'm glad I don't get pizza from Papa John's, because at the time, I said that this was not going to hurt the NFL, but that Papa John's would be hurt most by this. I remember talking to some friends and writers a couple of months ago, saying that Papa John's should fire or get rid of Schnatter after these comments because it was very damaging. I don't know if that has happened yet, but if so, it's clear that Papa John's has no accountability to get rid of people who damage the brand, even if it's their founder and face. Papa John's has not kicked out because of a mutual termination or falling sales, they were kicked out because Schnatter made comments that made it terrible for people to get pizza from his brand. As a result of that, I say to Papa John's, as I said in the beginning: Good riddance?

Hopefully, Pizza Hut has better management than Papa John's, because I believe they will take accountability and have people who understand the customers they are selling to. Political stances hurt Papa John's. It better not hurt Pizza Hut, and I think this partnership will work out much better than the last one.