Hours after NFL and Papa John's ended their eight-year association it was announced that Pizza Hut would be the official sponsor of the league. The new contract will come into action in April and the marketing campaign would be focused on the NFL draft scheduled in the same month, according to The Washington Post.

The start of the fallout between NFL and Papa John's

It was all hunky-dory between the National Football League and Papa John's until some of the players in the league started protesting against police brutalities by kneeling down during the national anthem.

The movement quickly caught fire as multiple players from different teams followed the same form of protest.

In response, President Donald Trump called for firing the players who were seen following this form of protest. Donald Trump's remarks were not well received and on September 24, 2017, over 200 players kneeled while the national anthem was being played in protest to the President's remarks.

Papa John's entered the scene after their then-CEO John Schnatter expressed his concerns on the falling sales of the franchise due to the protests. According to Schnatter, the protests were polarizing the country and ultimately hurting the company in the process. The comment was followed up by another remark from Ritchie, the company’s president and the chief operating officer then, who stated that the company's sales continue to plummet as these protests hurt the League and eventually the company.

The franchise saw a steep decline of 3 percent in their shares in a span of fewer than two weeks, prompting them to apologize to the fans. Schnatter later stepped down as the CEO on January 1 this year to ease up tension between the league and the franchise.

However, it did not go well as the seeds of the disparity between the two parties was sown and the League eventually announced parting with Papa John's yesterday.

The franchise will still continue it's relationship locally with 22 of the teams in the League.

Papa John's misses Pizza Hut scores

Less than a day after Papa John's parted ways with the National Football League it was Pizza Hut who saw an opening and pounced on the opportunity, scoring them a multi-year deal giving the company exclusive marketing rights and the authority to use the logos of all the 32 teams in the league.

The NFL-Papa John's fallout was a blessing in disguise for Pizza Hut who recently was pushed back to the second position after Domino's posted a total revenue of $12.2 billion last year as opposed to Pizza Hut's $12 billion.

With a fan base of over 150,000 and Pizza Hut's 7,500 restaurants around the country, the franchise is surely going to see a huge rise in their revenue starting this April.
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