It is nearly a proven fact by now that sports fans do not appreciate Nickelback disgracing their teams' venues with their loud, raspy wailing. The NHL made the mistake of announcing that the group would headline the Winnipeg Jets' home opener back in September, but organizers scrapped the plan—possibly thanks, at least in part, to the local campaign against the choice.


And today, just hours after the NFL announced that Nickelback would perform during halftime at Ford Field's Thanksgiving Day Packers-Lions game, another campaign against the band has taken off. An anonymous fan started the crusade by posting a petition at Change.org:

This game is nationally televised, do we really want the rest of the US to associate Detroit with Nickelback? Detroit is home to so many great musicians and they chose Nickelback?!?!?! Does anyone even like Nickelback? Is this some sort of ploy to get people to leave their seats during halftime to spend money on alcoholic beverages and concessions? This is completely unfair to those of us who purchased tickets to the game. At least the people watching at home can mute their TVs. The Lions ought to think about their fans before choosing such an awful band to play at halftime.


As of about 12:30 this afternoon, 2,091 people had assigned their names to the cause. (Some sample comments: "Nickelback sucks," "Nickelback is the worst band ever," "'I'd rather drink bleach than listen to Nickelback.") With our help, they will surpass 2,500 in no time, and the bleach-drinking threats will be put on hold until Madonna & Friends play the Super Bowl. And perhaps Nickelback will fall once again.

If only we could have helped save Lambeau from Lady Antebellum.

Nickelback to play at Lions Thanksgiving game; petition for change already started [Detroit Free Press]

Replace Nickelback as the halftime show for the Thanksgiving game [Change.org]