In October 2017, in a conference call with investors, Schnatter blamed the National Football League for poor financial performance, stating "The NFL has hurt us ... We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this", referring to the U.S. national anthem protests by football players. Papa John's Pizza had a marketing agreement to be the "official pizza company" of the NFL and also had marketing deals with 23 of its 32 individual teams, and Schnatter said the protests were hurting the company's sales of pizzas. Later that day, Papa John's announced that the NFL shield or "official sponsor" designation on Papa John's commercials and advertising would be removed. On December 21, 2017, Schnatter announced that he would step down as CEO of Papa John's amidst controversy over his comments. Schnatter was replaced as Chief Executive Officer by Chief Operating Officer Steve Richie, effective January 1, 2018. The company said Schnatter would still appear in the chain's commercials and on its pizza boxes, and was the company's biggest shareholder with approximately 9.5 million shares. He remained chairman of the company's board of directors at the time.