Ex-Papa John’s CEO claims NFL team owners asked him to get Roger Goodell fired
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Better pizza. Better football?
Former Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter opened up to Sportscasting late last month about a situation in 2017 in which he claimed Washington Commanders team owner Daniel Snyder and Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones wanted him to get NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fired at the height of the national anthem controversy.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
The New York Post noted Schnatter at the time was feuding with Goodell and blamed him for Papa John’s falling stock. Schnatter was against players kneeling during the national anthem.
Schnatter told Sportscasting he told Snyder and Jones it wasn’t his job to oust Goodell.
“… Remember, Goodell is a coward, and he is incompetent. And he’s just lucky. Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys, Indra Nooyi [former CEO] with PepsiCo, and Dan Snyder all called me — several other folks — about Goodell’s conduct and the way he was handling this. Jones and Dan Snyder … wanted Goodell fired. This is like …the first of November, end of October.
“They called and said, ‘You need to take this guy out. You’re the number one sponsor of the league, as far as notoriety and acceptance and association. Everybody loves you, they love Peyton [Manning]. We hate Goodell.”
Schnatter added: “I said, ‘No. This is not my job to fire your commissioner. He works for you. I just sell pizzas. I have a family of small businesses that, you know, probably 35 percent of our spend’s NFL, it’s down 20 percent. This behavior of not addressing the issue to the owners’ and players’ satisfaction is causing me and my franchisees a lot of problems. And this is going on now for two seasons… I had a free shot from two owners to go after Goodell personally. I didn’t go after him in a vicious, venomous way. I just said, ‘Hey, grow up, be a leader, and fix the problem so my small business owners stop taking it on the chin.’”
Goodell would go on to sign another contract. He reportedly requested nearly $50 million per year in addition to the lifetime use of a private jet.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Schnatter eventually resigned as chairman after he was heard saying the N-word on a conference call.
Read More: Ex-Papa John’s CEO claims NFL team owners asked him to get Roger Goodell fired