NFL commissioner Roger Goodell spoke Sunday at the unveiling of the Peyton Manning statue in Indianapolis
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to all 32 NFL teams on Tuesday, sharing his belief ‘that everyone should stand for the National Anthem,’ and adding that the league needs to ‘move past’ the controversy surrounding player protests.
According to the memo, which was obtained by ESPN’s Adam Schefter and posted on Facebook, Goodell feels the ongoing protests during the national anthem threaten to ‘erode’ the ‘unifying power’ of football.
A large number of NFL players have been protesting police brutality against minorities since 2016 without any punishment from their respective teams or the league itself. In a conference call on Tuesday, NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said league owners are prepared to meet next week to discuss unilateral changes to the policy concerning conduct during the national anthem.
SEE FULL MEMO BELOW
Fans hold towels depicting NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wearing a clown nose during the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots on September 7
NFL teams, such as the Dallas Cowboys (above), have knelt, sat, and raised a fist during the national anthem to raise awareness about police brutality against minorities
Kansas City Chiefs teammates Terrance Smith (48), Eric Fisher (72), Demetrius Harris (84), and Cameron Erving (75) take a knee before a game against the Los Angeles Chargers
As it currently reads, the policy says players ‘should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their hand, and refrain from talking’ during the anthem.
However, it stops short of saying players ‘must’ stand.
Now-former San Francisco 49ers-quarterback Colin Kaepernick began the protests by refusing to stand for the national anthem during the 2016 preseason. The demonstration was intended to bring attention to police brutality against minorities, and even though the free agent Kaepernick remains unsigned this season, the protests have gained popularity thanks, in part, to the objections of President Donald Trump.
Over the last few weeks the President has spoken and tweeted about the issue, accusing protesting players of disrespecting the flag and military veterans, even going so far as to call anyone who takes a knee a ‘son of a b****.’
Trump’s position on the subject is shared by many across the country, which is a reality that Goodell addressed in his memo.
‘Like many of our fans, we believe that everyone should stand for the National Anthem,’ Goodell wrote in the memo. ‘It is an important moment in our game. We want to honor our flag and our country, and our fans expect that of us.
‘We also care deeply about our players and respect their opinions and concerns about critical social issues,’ Goodell continued. ‘The controversy over the Anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations and making real progress on the underlying issues. We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players.’
NFL players began protesting police violence against minorities during the 2016 preseason when now-former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the anthem
Some teams, such as the Chicago Bears (above) have agreed to stand while locking arms
Trump devoted several Tuesday morning Tweets to the subject, ultimately asking why the NFL is getting ‘massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law!’
The NFL officially became a tax-exempt nonprofit in 1942 before relinquishing that status in 2015.
And even before that decision, the NFL’s tax exemption did not apply to the individual teams. In other words, all NFL revenue – including tickets, television rights fees, and merchandise – are taxable and have been for some time.
‘The idea that we received some sort of tax break is not true so there is nothing really here to give up,’ Lockhart said Tuesday.
According to Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation in 2013, the 10-year cost to taxpayers for the NFL’s exemption was $109 million.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: ‘Like many of our fans, we believe that everyone should stand for the National Anthem’
The league does use tax-exempt bonds to help finance stadiums, most of which are primarily financed with tax dollars in the first place.
After previously kneeling alongside his players in Week 3, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently announced he would bench any player who refused to stand for the national anthem.
Jones’s comment came in response to a question about Vice President Mike Pence, who left a game in Indianapolis on Sunday after about a dozen San Francisco players knelt during the Star-Spangled Banner.
‘I know this, we cannot…in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,’ Jones said after a 35-31 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
‘We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag,’ he continued.
Trump was initially when Jones and the Cowboys took a knee in Week 3, but the two have since talked, and Jones credited the President with alerting him to the NFL’s existing policy on the subject.
In an interview with ESPN’s Mortensen, Jones said ‘You know who reminded me about the game ops policy? Donald Trump.’
Jerry Jones claims President Donald Trump alerted him to the NFL’s existing policy