Football fans are exacting some measure of revenge on the NFL this year, whether league officials and Commissioner Roger Goodell want to admit it or not, and it has everything to do with an ex-quarterback who was just afforded an accolade not because he deserves it but because he’s a Left-wing, America-hating jerk.

Ever since former San Francisco 49ers signal-caller Colin Kaepernick began disrespecting the military, patriotic fans, his country and police officers during the 2016 season over the myth that cops purposely single out black people for abuse and murder, his kneeling “protests” during the playing of the National Anthem have caught on with scores of other players.

Every single team this year has seen at least some of its players, most of whom are black, following in Kaepernick’s shoes — which is ironic, given that Kap left the league after last season and (ahem) has been unable to sign with another team this season. Go figure.

Why is that, given that he’s such a “great” quarterback?

Well, for one thing, he’s not a “great” quarterback. His play during the bulk of the 2016 season, when his team went 2-14, was subpar, to say the least. Yes, Kap had been to a Super Bowl a few seasons earlier, but that was then.

For another — and this is a fact despite what league hacks tell you — his protesting, along with the additional protests he sparked, are costing the NFL hundreds of millions of dollars (if not billions) in lost ticket and merchandise sales, as well as TV viewership. How’s that for GQ magazine’s “Citizen of the Year,” one of the “new American heroes?”

Try not to puke.

The damage is real, even if the NFL’s excuses aren’t. As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, viewership for Sunday Night Football’s Dec. 10 divisional matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers — two of the league’s better teams — was pretty good, all things considered. The nail-biter victory by the Steelers (39-38) averaged an 11.6 overnight rating among households, which even topped the mid-winter finale of AMC’s blockbuster hit, “The Walking Dead.”

But even that decent showing paled in comparison to the huge divisional match-up a year ago between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. Viewership year-over-year was down 30 percent.

Even with such an important game with playoff indications, the Steelers-Ravens game was down 11 percent for the season for Sunday Night Football.

The financial hemorrhaging is far worse for teams whose seasons were essentially over weeks ago due to their losses. In years’ past, teams playing poorly would still manage to fill most of their stadiums on game day, but not this year. Pictures of stadiums that are half-to-three-quarters empty flood social media, and it has gotten worse as the season — and the protests — have gone on. (Related: In our twisted “progressive” society, what takes real courage is STANDING for the national anthem… #BoycottNFL.)

As Breitbart News reported, the protests stretched into Week 14 — the week that just passed — and so did the empty stadium trend. The 0-15 Cleveland Browns, who were actually leading at home against the Green Bay Packers but wound up getting beat in overtime, played to a mostly empty stadium.

#loyalty #ClevelandBrowns #GoBrowns #firstwin #cleveland pic.twitter.com/xMPcEXD9NP

— DigitalDaddy (@digital_lif3) December 10, 2017

Mind you, it’s tough to watch your team lose week in, week out (the Browns haven’t had a decent season in years), but Cleveland fans have in the past largely supported their team anyway.

Not this year.

The attendance is so poor in some markets that teams are reducing ticket prices so dramatically they cost less per seat than a single beer, Breitbart noted.

The league has one man to thank — Colin Kaepernick and his BS “social justice” movement. Loser of the Year is a better moniker.

Don’t get me wrong. These players are Americans and they have every right to express their social and political opinions. But the league, and the team owners, and the fans have rights too, and that may include (next year) a rule that prevents them from showing up to work (football is their job, let’s never forget) to protest.

Especially if it continues to cost the league fans and money, which it is sure to do.

J.D. Heyes is editor of The National Sentinel and a senior writer for Natural News and News Target.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

TheNationalSentinel.com