OK, substitute whoever was doing the broadcasts - same point. And it doesn't matter what you think but what the people with big money on the line thought about it and they wanted Hank Jr. gone and that was within their power to do, and they did.
Sure, but AFAIK, only the team has any power to do anything about it.
I just didn't understand your point, but I don't believe individual stations actually have ANY discretion about the games they're broadcasting. And what discretion they do have cannot be, "We'd rather air this game, not this one, cause we don't like that player."
Goodness, those are COMPLETELY different situations. ESPN or whoever can control who works for ESPN, or who sings their intro - those are THEIR EMPLOYEES. They don't have the power (or at least I can't imagine they do) to dictate behavior by players on the team they have signed $billion contracts to broadcast, or to just say, "Nah, we don't like So and So Player for
whatever reason, not gonna broadcast his team!"
Except the singer worked for ESPN or whoever, and the player doesn't. It's a key distinction - the broadcaster has firing authority over THEIR employees, but not someone ELSE'S employees. This is obvious. If you want to say the NFL should tighten up its player contracts in the next union deal to give them firing authority over players who don't stand properly during the national anthem, fine. Let them try.
Well did you disagree with stations taking the Dixie Chicks off the air?
And I get the principle, but you're dealing with a $billion industry and deciding to keep Team Z off the airwaves just because the broadcaster doesn't like what a player on that team is doing is just not going to fly. Here's the wiki entry on broadcast rights for the NFL. It's incredibly detailed and there's no way in hell the broadcasters can just decide, "Nope, we'd rather air the Patriots game this week!"
