The main reason why Colin Kaepernick remains unsigned is pretty simple: money.
I threw a question to everybody on Twitter yesterday and asked, “Would you stop supporting your favorite NFL team if they signed Colin Kaepernick?”
The poll is hovering around 70 percent ceasing support for their favorite NFL team if it signed Kaepernick after 1,300 votes.
Would you stop supporting your favorite NFL team if they signed Colin Kaepernick?
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) September 21, 2017
I understand that a Twitter poll is hardly scientific, but I think it’s pretty accurate when it comes to the general consensus of serious football fans. My followers on average are big football fans. They’re the type of people that buy tickets to the games, tailgate, are likely boosters at their universities and generally just care more than a casual fan.
The fact 70 percent of them would stop supporting their team is enough to give an owner a heart attack. However, for the sake of argument, lets assume that only five percent of fans would cutoff their support following the signing of Kaepernick.
He’d absolutely still not get signed because there’s not a business owner in the world willing to lose five percent of his base over one average at best employee. It’s really this simple. It’s not about racism, being blackballed or any larger conspiracy.
It’s simply about keeping the customers happy. You’d have to be a lunatic to sign a quarterback to sit on your bench and then lose a massive chunk of your audience. NFL teams are businesses. They exist to make money.
At this point of time Kaepernick is a giant pit for owners trying to make money, and that’s why he’s unemployed.