Where was all this anger about GET POLITICS OUTTA SPORTS whenever Tom Brady was walking around the Pats locker room with a MAGA hat?
Let's be real, here. You only care about POLITICS IN SPORTS when it's not YOUR viewpoint at the forefront.
Players are people just like you and me. They are human.
And as for the owners siding with the players over the fans, that's the smart business decision. The players are what enable these owners to make millions of dollars. The star players drive the entire league's revenue. Without them, the owners have nothing. They know where their bread is buttered. The fan? There's millions of us, and it takes a lot to make us mad enough to stop watching games (and therefore advertising), stop buying merchandise, stop playing fantasy football, stop buying Madden....It's a good bet that not enough of us will stop to hurt the bottom line.
So why in the world would the owners side with anyone except their players? The players hold a lot of cards in that relationship.