Just as the Jacksonville Jaguars seem to be finally returning to relevance on the football field — fingers crossed, wait-til-next-week, you never know — is a significant chunk of the team’s long-suffering fan base really going to ditch the Jags because of the team’s silent protest during the playing of the national anthem in London?

Will the fuss subside or will it fester or grow?

Even after a rousing blowout victory Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, people wanted to talk about the protest, said Ryan Green, who hosts a post-game show, “The 5th Quarter,” on the Jacksonville sports radio network 1010XL AM/92.5 FM.

“You can tell very quickly when you open the phone lines the level of anger about this,” he said. “We tried to keep it on the game, but it was very apparent though that people wanted to talk about the anthem.”

Calls after the game ran about half and half on the issue, he said. Those upset about the anthem protests, which were seen across the NFL, were by far the more angry group.

Green said it’s difficult, though, to tell how fans will react until Oct. 15, when the Jaguars return home after a two-game road trip.

“If they come home 4-1, I think we’ll see a packed stadium against the Rams,” he said.

Photos: Scenes from Jaguars win in London

Perhaps one clue to the longterm reaction could be found on the Jaguars’ Facebook page and Twitter account, which on Sunday posted a photo of owner Shad Khan standing, arms linked with players Marcedes Lewis and Telvin Smith, during the anthem.

It’s a striking image, made more significant by the fact the Jaguars played early that day, on London time, and what they did helped set the tone for the games to come.

The post’s title was simple: “Unity.”

Unity pic.twitter.com/wSNsc4BSEV

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) September 24, 2017

The photograph quickly drew many angry responses, including calls for boycotts and cries of disrespect for a military town.

But many supported the players’ actions, and some enjoyed the chance to call complainers “snowflakes” — a term that some on the right have used to tweak what they perceive as easily offended liberals.

More telling, perhaps, were the 13,000 Facebook reactions below the team’s post.

By Monday afternoon, it had drawn 10,000-some “likes” and 2,300 “loves,” versus just 1,300 angry-face logos and 67 crying faces.

“I admired the unity (players) showed,” said Bob Moore, a Jacksonville composer and Army veteran. “Most of them stood up for something they actually believe in. It wasn’t just grandstanding. And for those of us who are veterans, that’s why the military’s there, to protect the right to do that.”

To be sure, many feel angry and dismayed by the protests.

Robert Germano quickly started a “Boycott Jacksonville Jaguars” page on Facebook, on which he features the Jaguars logo on a giant stadium scoreboard: “Jacksonville’s Symbol of Humiliation.”

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Germano, who lives in Orlando, is a Jacksonville native and Jaguar fan from the beginning. On Sunday, he said, he turned the game on late and was relishing the team’s lead until a friend told him about the protests. At that, he switched his TV off and called it quits with the team.

“I absolutely will not support them in any way, shape or form,” he said. “They want to make a statement? We’ll make a statement.”

Germano said he was a U.S. Marine for 18 years and did four tours in Iraq, one during Desert Storm and then again in 2003, 2005 and 2006. Protesting while “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played is simply wrong, he believes.

“There are so many ways I’m offended by it. It’s the symbol of our country. I pledge allegiance to the flag. I’ve buried many Marines over the years draped under the flag, and one of the most important things to me is, when serving in Iraq and a Marine is killed, they come home with a flag draped over the body,” he said.

The NFL, Germano said, is simply insulting its target audience of Americans: “My question is, can’t we have just one thing that’s sacred in this country? One thing? Is that asking too much?”

The anthem protests grew Sunday after President Donald Trump, during a Friday rally in Alabama, said: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired, he’s fired.”

Eating lunch Monday near food trucks lined up along Hogan Street, Veleta Esco said Trump should respect players’ freedom of speech and shouldn’t have insulted them. “That was very disrespectful,” she said.

Nearby, David Cole was eating lunch with his wife, Catie. He said he doesn’t like the kneeling during the anthem; it’s an insult to veterans. But he remains a Jaguars fan — he was wearing a cap with the team logo on it — and enjoyed the team’s thrashing of the Ravens.

“I’m not burning my tickets,” he said.

At VFW and American Legion posts around Jacksonville, the protests were a hot topic.

After the morning Jaguars game, some at American Legion Florida Post 9 on New Kings Road asked why they even bothered to show afternoon games on the bar’s four televisions, said Lena Heredia-Perez, commander of the post.

“It’s not just the flag,” Heredia-Perez said of the Jaguars’ protest. “You are representing Jacksonville as a whole, and for them to be ignorant like that is like a thorn in my side.”

Hank Morris, commander of American Legion Florida Post 137 on San Juan Avenue, said the flag is sacred and something that should be respected. But he said it also stands for freedom, so the players are entirely within their rights if they want to continue in a peaceful way.

“We are really not happy with the forum that they are using to use the American flag to protest,” Morris said. “I believe it is a little off base, but we do support their right to a non-violent protest.”

Alvin Farmer, manager at a financial company, was once a big Jaguars fan until he grew tired of scandals in the NFL, in particular the Michael Vick animal-cruelty case.

Then came the anthem flap. To be sure, Farmer said, Sunday’s protests were in reaction to comments from “a president who can’t keep his mouth shut,” but that’s still no reason to kneel for the anthem.

“Two wrongs never made a right,” he said. “I fervently believe in everyone’s freedom of speech, but if you or I walk into our jobs and do the same things, HR’s going to walk us out the door. We don’t have the rights that the overpaid millionaires playing a children’s game do. There’s a time and place to express your opinions, and when people are paying you millions of dollars to do a job it’s not the time or the place.”

On a strictly sports business level, it may be too early to tell what, if any, impact the anthem flap will have on the team. But Sunday’s move may fire up some local businesses opposed to the protests.

C7 Creative, a digital development firm in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach, took to Twitter Monday and lobbed a text salvo at the Jaguars.

“They have a right to kneel? WE HAVE THE RIGHT to point out that the Jags and NFL are ungrateful WHINERS,” said a C7 Creative Twitter post dated at 3:09 a.m. Monday.

Calvin Bryant, president and owner of C7, said he made the post himself. Though it was removed from the C7 Twitter account Monday afternoon, he said he’s not backing down.

“Obviously, it’s shock value to get people’s attention,” Bryant said.

He said he doesn’t disagree that social justice needs to be advanced in Jacksonville, and he takes no umbrage with Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who started the movement last year on behalf of African-Americans who have been shot by police.

But Bryant said using the national anthem as a protest is offensive to him and the military. He called for a local boycott of the Jacksonville Jaguars and wants Khan to apologize.

“It’s wrong,” said Bryant, who has no business association with the Jaguars other than he goes to games often. “I’m responding to my disgust with Mr. Khan.”

Don Capener, dean of the Davis College of Business at Jacksonville University and professor of sport business, noted the rift between President Trump and the NFL is entering new territory when it comes to politics and sports.

Still, it’s difficult, he said, to picture Khan making a marketing misstep.

“Shad Khan is an extremely astute business person. Although I think that his political intentions are what they are, he’s the only non-white or non-Caucasian owner that I’m aware of in the NFL. He’s one who’s also been an entrepreneur and found opportunity where others found nothing,” Capener said. “He’s firing up his players and organization in a way that he sees best.”

Kristi Sweeney, program director of Sport Management at University of North Florida, said that — despite some initial negative response — Khan and other owners were almost duty-bound to stand by their players during Sunday’s actions at stadiums across the NFL.

“I think there’s more of a negative impact, potentially, from a business perspective if the owners don’t stand with their players,” Sweeney said. “If Shad Khan doesn’t stand with his players … he’s not standing behind his product and there’s potential that he’s devaluing it in terms of how it’s perceived from sponsors.”

Sweeney noted the NFL is the most valued professional sport in America. The league is constantly looking to expand its audience, and that will only come from targeting the millennial age group, those generally younger than 35 years old.

If it’s a wager on new audiences, the hoopla over protest during the national anthem for the NFL may prove to be a business winner.

“Look at the role of millennials. They’re the largest living generation right now, they’re the next consumers,” Sweeney said. “The majority of players are millennials. And millennials are known as a generation who want to see social change.”

Capener said that while he’s reasonably sure the NFL will survive the controversy, there could be some short-term blow-back from fans.

Fans refusing to buy tickets to games is an immediate impact. But with the Jaguars actually in contention for the first time in years, fans are likely to go to EverBank Field for home games, he said.

The big hit could come if big business starts backing out of advertising and partnership deals with the Jaguars and other teams. Lower TV viewership would also mean less broadcast revenue for the league.

Daily’s, a major sponsor of the Jaguars and the namesake for the amphitheater opened this year known as Daily’s Place, waded carefully into the controversy.

“We believe that freedom of expression is a fundamental right of all Americans; yet, we believe this right should be exercised with deference to our nation’s flag, the greatest symbol of our hard-fought and deeply treasured rights and privileges as American citizens,” Daily’s CEO Aubrey Edge said in a prepared statement.

Attempts to reach EverBank were unsuccessful.

Dan Edwards, a Jaguars spokesman, said the team was in the process of returning to Jacksonville from London on Monday and had no further comment.

Capener notes that during Khan’s ownership, the value of the Jaguars has grown nearly threefold. Forbes magazine, in its annual ranking of National Football League franchise values, recently put the value of the club at over $2 billion.

“Shad Khan has gone into very deep water before and been able to tread and even succeed. I would not bet against him despite all the criticism that he’s received,” Capener said.

Times-Union writer Joe Dareskevich contributed to this report.

matt.soergel@jacksonville.com

drew.dixon@jacksonville.com