9/23/2017: The NFL players fail to understand the following principles of business.  A company must have a good product, service and a public image for success.  In the NFL the player may be very good and play well and has the right to public protest.  What the player is missing is that the NFL team and the league is a business.  That should be apparent to them by the large salaries the players enjoy.  The team’s business income comes  from TV ads based upon viewership.  The viewership is directly related to public image.  Does the potential viewer who is paying for the NFL product may like the product; i.e the players, their performance, but however as important is the public image.  The NFL suffers historically from public image on drugs and domestic violence.  Now many of the the potential customers are not in sympathy with a few players disrespect for the American Flag or National anthem.  Patriotism still exists in the sports paying sector of America. They have voted with their absence on TV viewing.  In addition they have voited with their feet, noted by the vacant seats at the Los Angeles NFL team home games.  It is a matter of missing an important business principle, public image, which I normally put in the category of silent killers.  However in this case it is not so silent.