For all intents and purposes, the NFL’s short-lived national anthem conduct policy is dead.
That’s what the league’s team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell signaled at the exit of the NFL’s annual fall meetings in New York on Wednesday, when all the power brokers passed on revisiting punishment for forms of social protest by players. The league’s anthem conduct policy was shelved by team owners last July and hasn’t been brought back to the table since, despite a handful of players continuing to protest social and racial inequalities during the pregame ceremony. But after the NFL’s broadcast partners stopped showing the anthem on television and political rhetoric around the issue died down, the league passed on revisiting forms of punishment in what was billed as a meeting where any changes (if at all) could be made.
With TV ratings rebounding and fan excitement on the rise again, you could say owners decided to take their own knee rather than fight against positive momentum. And that even included the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, who was previously one of the chief owners to carry President Donald Trump’s political water on the issue.
“I think right now we are going forward just as we entered the season,” Jones told reporters of the anthem conduct rule, which was passed in May and then shelved by owners in July. “ … One of the owners [at the New York meetings] stood up and said: ‘We have really gotten in a place that’s positive and – not that we weren’t [in a positive place before] – but we benefited from this.’ And I agree in relationships and sorting through where we want to go, and I’m so impressed with the social programs that the clubs and the players have engaged in.”
Source: sports.yahoo.com
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