Tag: Sources: NFL used polling firm to get public opinion on Colin Kaepernick
Sources: NFL used polling firm to get public opinion on Colin Kaepernick
ATLANTA – Four months into quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s 2017 free agency and heading into intensified criticism from President Donald Trump over player protests, the NFL used a Washington consulting firm to ask Americans whether Kaepernick should have been signed by a team, according to sources familiar with the league’s research.
The poll was conducted by The Glover Park Group, a consulting firm that was co-founded by then-NFL communications chief Joe Lockhart, sources told Yahoo Sports. The data sought by the NFL included fan attitudes about a few high-profile league concerns, including domestic violence, gambling, player protests and player safety. Sources noted that Kaepernick was the only player singled out in the research for specific opinions, which were then compiled and sent to various league officials, including commissioner Roger Goodell and several other high-ranking executives.
The poll could create a significant point of contention in Kaepernick’s collusion complaint against the NFL, raising the question of why the league conducted opinion research with its fan base about the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback. The existence of polling data on Kaepernick could also raise the question of whether the research went beyond high-ranking NFL executives to ownership groups or other team personnel who could have signed the quarterback…….