Athletes have every right to make political statements like this. We have no right to tell them what they should do with their labor. This is also true for writers/reporters who are, by my measure, universally supporting the player's stance. Good for them. What else can they do? But it's important for everyone involved to understand that many may choose to tune out when sports are no longer an escape. There will be real financial consequences moving forward for franchises. Tv ratings should be much higher for the NBA and MLB than they are during covid. Engagement on reddit and other platforms should be higher than it is. Reporters are being shed at an astonishing rate from newspapers. Only this time, the athletic isn't scooping them up. Far from it. The Athletic layed off 8% of its staff in June and the writers who remained were forced to take a pay cut. More layoffs and paycuts will follow industry-wide. It will be interesting to watch play out.