Richard Sherman has never been one to shy away from speaking out against the NFL, and now the Seattle Seahawks all-pro cornerback is speaking out on one of the league’s predominant issues.
In the latest edition of his video series for The Players’ Tribune, Sherman criticizes the NFL for caring more about the bottom line than the health of its players.
“It’s hard to stress player safety in such a violent game,” Sherman says in a Players’ POV video he tweeted Thursday morning. “Because at the end of the day, ratings sell, people want to buy tickets, people are going to come to games regardless.”
Sherman uses the first game of the 2016 season as an example, during which Carolina Panthers quarterback and reigning MVP Cam Newton took four hits to the head in a 21–20 loss to the Denver Broncos. However, Newton was never removed from the game nor examined for a concussion. The NFL later fined two Broncos for helmet-to-helmet hits, but ultimately ruled that Newton showed no signs of a concussion.
Sherman isn’t buying it.
“If you take the reigning MVP out of the game in the last couple minutes with the game on the line, he’d be frustrated, the fans would be frustrated, but it would be in line with what you said that you wanted to see in terms of player safety,” Sherman says about the Newton situation. “But you didn’t because it would affect the ratings, because it would affect the game.”
“They’re a bottom-line business. If you can increase their bottom line then they’ll love you, they’ll do everything they can to put you out more, to market you, to make sure the fans buy your jersey… because it makes them more money. If you’re not making them money, then at the end of the day, they’re going to find somebody else.”
And while he says the goal of the NFL is to appease the owners’ financial interests, as a member of the union, Sherman stresses the importance of bringing the concerns and interests of the players to the forefront.
“We really don’t have reason to trust the NFL and I don’t think they mind either way,” Sherman continues. “At the end of the day they’re going to do what they have to do to make their money and to make as much money as they can for the owners, and our union is going to do what they can to protect the interests of the players and the rights of the players and help them make as much money as possible. That’s the way it’s always going to be.”
