President Donald Trump blasted the NFL on Wednesday, questioning when will commissioner Roger Goodell finally going to get “tough and smart” regarding player protests during the national anthem, Newsmax informs.
“The NFL is now thinking about a new idea – keeping teams in the Locker Room during the National Anthem next season. That’s almost as bad as kneeling! When will the highly paid Commissioner finally get tough and smart? This issue is killing your league!” Trump tweeted.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that some NFL owners are looking at the possibility of keeping players in the locker room while the anthem is played next season.
“I think that if players are still kneeling at the end of the year, then it could very well happen,” said one person familiar with the owners’ deliberations on anthem-related issues, The Post writes. That person added that it was “too early to tell” for certain if the change to the anthem policy will be made by owners and the league.
According to The Post, those sentiments were echoed by several others with knowledge of the owners’ thinking on the matter. They said they did not know at this point exactly how many owners would favor such an approach, and they cautioned that there have been no detailed discussions yet about leaving teams and players in the locker room for the anthem because owners did not consider it appropriate to make an in-season change to the policy.
The change to having players and coaches on the sideline for the anthem was made in 2009, and the current league policy says that players must be on the sideline for the anthem. However, it suggests, but does not require that players stand for the anthem. The NFL league has been under intense pressure from Trump and fans to require players to stand during the anthem. In September, Trump said during a campaign speech in Alabama that owners should fire any player who protested during the anthem, The Post notes.
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