On the Thursday broadcast of his Fox Sports Radio show “Outkick the Coverage,” Clay Travis called on the NFL to apologize to its fans for how it handled the National Anthem protests that have “substantially tarnished” the league’s ratings the last two seasons.

Travis argued that the College Football Playoff national championship ratings being up nearly 10 percent and the NFL’s playoff games being down nearly 13 percent is proof cord cutting is not why the NFL’s ratings are on the decline.

“I think the NFL needs to almost come out and apologize to all of its fans for the past two years of politicization when it comes to the way that politics and the NFL have become intertwined,” Travis said. “I’m not even kidding about that. I think that Roger Goodell and the NFL owners and the NFL players need to issue an official apology.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent