'Papa John' comes out firing against Roger Goodell
If they gave awards for who had the worst week, “Papa John” Schnatter would be a nominee for the week of July 8.
After all, he got forced out of his own company for making a racist remark that got picked up on a microphone and leaked to the public.
What’s more, the company he founded continues to suffer declining sales due to a brand that’s got more tarnish on it than the copper on the Statue of Liberty.
Schnatter went on WHAS Radio in Louisville, where he also resigned from the University of Louisville’s board of trustees, to discuss with host Terry Meiners the sales decline and his admission to using the N-word where people could hear him.
And rather than the groveling contrition usually shown by disgraced powerful people, Schnatter took the chance to use his media appearance as a bully pulpit.
Indeed, he went right after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, claiming the NFL’s failure to eliminate national anthem protests had gone directly to the pizza chain’s bottom line and, ultimately, to Schnatter himself getting disgraced.
“We are very glad to get out of the NFL relationship, because we still get to sponsor some players and we still get to sponsor some teams and we still get to be part of the community,” Schnatter said in the radio interview.
“But we don’t want to do business with Roger Goodell, period. And I don’t want to do business with Roger Goodell, and we’ve had enough success where we get to pick who we do business with. And Roger Goodell runs the NFL, and we made a decision to get a divorce, and we did.”
Meiners charitably did not push the issue with Schnatter, changing the subject to questions involving the company’s relationship with other sports, particularly baseball.
Company relationships are critical at this point in its history. Even though Papa John’s is removing Schnatter’s image from their marketing as his personal brand becomes radioactive, they still have to deal with things like the University of Louisville’s decision to terminate their naming-rights contact for their stadium with the pizza chain.
The university even went so far as to remove Schnatter’s name from its “Center for Free Enterprise” at the business school.
Putting Goodell on blast might not be the best strategy no matter how much Schnatter is convinced that those dirty anthem kneelers and their enabling commissioner hurt his ability to singlehandedly keep the Turkish pepperoncini-farming industry afloat.
As Mike Florio points out at Pro Football Talk, “At a time when teams like the Falcons (temporarily, at least) and Seahawks (permanently) have ended their partnerships with Papa John’s, the effort by Schnatter — who remains a major shareholder in the company he founded — to target Goodell personally could result in some calls being made from 345 Park Avenue to other owners of other teams in an effort to get all franchises to sever ties with Papa John’s, and to replace Schnatter’s company with Pizza Hut or Domino’s or anything but Papa John’s.”
And even though NFL TV ratings are declining, that’s still a lot of eyeballs in front of a pizza ad just as people are deciding what to eat while watching the game.
Schnatter may be out as CEO and face of the brand, but the man still owns a significant stake in the company he founded.
Doubling down when he should be apologizing — even an insincere, “Hollywood” apology — could cost Schnatter millions of dollars.
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