BROOKSVILLE, Fla. -- A sports bar tucked away in a Brooksville strip mall is stripping football fans of their Sunday ritual.
The Beef ‘O’ Brady’s at 31120 Cortez Blvd. in Brooksville won’t be purchasing DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket this season, choosing instead to offer a discount for veterans.
Owner Curtis West’s decision is in response to protests across the league, in which players kneel during the National Anthem.
“I agree with the protest,” West said. “They can protest as they’d like, but not at that time when we’re honoring our veterans.”
West said around 20 customers, many of them veterans, complained to him last season that he was showing NFL games, despite their opposition to the protests.
“I told them, if the NFL doesn’t change their stance on this, then next year we will not have the NFL ticket,” he explained.
This season, West vowed to opt out of the $5,200 package. He plans to use that money to give veterans a 40 percent discount on Sundays throughout the NFL season.
The bar will show only the NFL games that air on local channels, and West wants to make clear the deal only applies at his franchise location.
“This is not a corporate move,” he said. “This is Curt and Janet’s Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Ridge Manor, Florida. This is a decision that we made.”
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