I received a letter from a gentleman, who had written NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. He also sent the letter to quite a few heads 
of the big companies which sponsor NFL football. Check it out and see if you might have wanted to voice a similar message to the head of the NFL.
February 23, 2011
Mr. Roger Goodell
NFL Commissioner
280 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Dear Mr. Goodell:
I am a life long NFL fan, and I am appalled by the impending lockout. The fact that the popularity of the game is increasing at a staggering rate in viewership and revenue, while the owners and players have the audacity to put the game on hold is obnoxious and an insult to every real fan like me. The comments that have been made by you, ownership and management about the game’s “sustainability” under the current model is insulting when you are discussing how to split billions of dollars.
Mr. Goodell, I am your ideal fan. To the chagrin of my wife, I watch football from 1:00 to 11:30 on Sunday, every Monday night, Thursday nights and whatever other nights you jam the games. I was an Eagles season ticket holder for five seasons before moving to North Carolina in 2006. I subscribed to DirecTV and the Sunday Ticket as soon as I moved down here. I play in multiple fantasy football leagues, and have officially licensed jerseys, hats, shirts, flags, license plates, beer cozies, flasks and even a rug. But while you and the players are in negotiations, like most fans, I feel completely left out in the cold and forgotten.
As the callousness of the temporary seating fiasco at the Super Bowl highlighted, the average fan is very low on the priority list of the NFL. The upcoming lockout will just be another example of that hubris. There only appears to be two things that will inspire action from the NFL: Bad Press and Money. And while I only have a small blog with a few devoted readers, I can not put a ding in the monolithic PR machine that is the NFL, so I have decided to go the other route. If/when the NFL goes into a lockout; I will also start my own fan lockout of the NFL and a number of your sponsors.
The first act of my Fan Lockout will be to not to purchase any officially licensed NFL merchandise from the beginning of the lockout until one year to the day that the lockout ends. Even if the lockout is only for one day, there will be a full year embargo on NFL merchandise.
Second, as a DirecTV and NFL Sunday Ticket customer, I will be cancelling my subscription on March 4th. I have not missed an Eagles game in over 15 years, but I refuse to support a company that will still pay the NFL for games next season, even if they are not played. I will be switching to cable, and consider returning to DirecTV for the 2012 season. If Eagles games are not aired in my area, I will make accommodations to watch them elsewhere. If a bar I go to has the Sunday Ticket, so be it. They would have had it whether I went there or not.
DirecTV is not the only sponsor who I will lock out. I will also not be using any of the following “Official Sponsors of the NFL” during the entirety of the lockout: Pepsi, Gatorade, Bud Light, Papa Johns, Nike, Campbell’s Soup, General Motors, Sprint, Home Depot, or EA Sports. While it may be unfair to punish these companies since they will already be suffering from your impending lockout, maybe I can get their attention and they can talk some sense into you and the owners. I will be sending a copy of this letter to the heads of each of these companies.
This letter is not in any way meant as a threat or attack; it is merely a statement of fact and the plan for the lockout from a disgruntled fan and customer. I will be posting a copy of this letter on my blog and posting links to it via Facebook and Twitter.
Mr. Goodell, I want to be reading and writing about free agency and the draft. I want to talk about which coaching moves are going to effect which divisions the most. I don’t want to be learning about federal mediators and union decertification. I don’t want to hear anyone talk about the possibility of replacement players. The NFL is my passion. You are taking away what I love, and I don’t wish to feel helpless against it any longer. Please get a deal done. Now.
Respectfully,
Bill Buckminster Jr.
Fan
CC: Jeffrey Lurie; Philadelphia Eagles, Chairman & CEO
Michael White; DirecTV, Chairman & CEO
Indra Nooyi; PepsiCo, Chairman & CEO
David A Peacock; Anheuser-Busch, President
John H. Schnatter; Papa Johns; Chairman & Co-CEO
Mark Parker; Nike, President & CEO
Daniel Akerson; General Motors, Chairman & CEO
Dan Hesse; Sprint, CEO
Frank Blake, Home Depot, Chairman & CEO
Edmund Carpenter; Campbell’s Soup, Chairman & CEO
John Riccitello, Electronic Arts, CEO
well said, however, Goodall and the other execs will merely crumble it up and throw it in the trash.. they dont care about the fan
I don’t know who this guy is , but if there is a statement of Declaration floating around I would be willing to sign it to stand with this guy. @Jott your right but if a ton of fans made the same declaration like on a protest ballet the sponsers would listen. The networks would listen, if they thought that we were serious.
And that my firends is the problem, could you get that many people together and be serious. What the writer of that letter is talking about is a boycott.
It does work, I have read of many recent write in’s that have made retailers tremble, ask Target, Chic-fila, Network Television.
They got us boys, I beleive as soon as the first kick off is aired we would be running back. Though as I have said before, I left Baseball for over 10 years, left football once for about 2 years, Basketball still not back. So hey anything is possible. Though I have been insane again about football for the the last 13 years, just like you guys 364 a year.
Lets hope it all gets worked out, I don’t want the League to slip down like the others did in popularity, but this is the price of success sometimes you get to big for your own good. That is where the NFL is right now with all this talk of expanding to Europe, and the world.
Whatever, bastards got me rambling, so its time to go!!!!
I agree my one letter probably won’t have any effect, but it sure felt good senind it.
There is a copy of the letter in a word doc you can print out for yourself with the addresses of all the CEO’s at http://eaglescouch.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/open-letter-to-mr-goodell/
In my opinion, this guy should get a life. It’s only football. Doesn’t he have anything better in which to invest his time and money. I watch the games on TV. If they don’t come on TV, so be it. I’ve got my family, my music, my life, and I haven’t spent a single “direct” dollar on the NFL in many years. I guess you could say I grew up. Sorry, I just don’t worship the NFL. I worship God.
drummer, I’m somewhere in the middle. I bought the NFL package while living in Boston for a few years, and have gone to 2 or 3 games live, only 1 that I paid for. But unless I have something major (like when I was the best man in my buddy’s wedding during an Eagles/Raiders game last year (loss)), I will make sure to watch every single Eagles game. That aside, to act like this situation is an injustice to fans, and that Roger Goodell really can fix it quickly, that’s silly. So far it’s disrupted a small fraction of the offseason if that. The man is entitled to his opinions and actions (or boycotting) but I say, let this thing pass – it’s not like the NFL won’t happen ever again. And so far we are two seasons (not football, spring and summer) away from missing any football games. There is still PLENTY of time for training and transactions. No need to feel like an injustice has been done to anybody in the beginning of March.
Drummer, I think the point is not getting a life, but sending selfish, greedy people a message. Do the men who run the NFL seem thankful and appreciative for what they have? or self serving and lustful for more and more and more? I like the idea of a boycott from a spiritual standpoint, shame on the NFL owners for being so greedy. They can start their redemption by paying back the $4 billion public funds they’ve obtained in the last 10 years for their stadiums. Think about it $ 4 BILLION !!!!!!
rasta, but one question I have is, does that send them a message that they are not already aware of? I think they know that many many fans think they are just greedy bastards. I really do. I think they also know that it is at 0 cost to them to ignore those fans who feel that way. The bottom line is that there just aren’t nearly enough people willing to actually follow throw with a boycott to make even the slightest difference.
SCHILL
Why does all of you posts have to be rebutt to someone elses comments. Be the first one to comment or just comment on the article. Here how:
Great letter but the owners, Goodell, the players the coaches and all the those CEOs dont give a crap about the fans.
See there ya go.