NFL owners have now reportedly officially adopted a new national anthem policy and it will certainly bring forward a pretty big discussion around the football world.
According to MMQB’s Albert Breer, league owners decided to vote in favor or the anthem changes during ther annual spring meeting on Wednesday.
Per source, the NFL has officially adopted the new anthem policy.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 23, 2018
New NFL policy will require players on the field for the anthem to show the anthem and flag “appropriate respect”. Teams, not players, can be fined for not adhering. Will allow players to stay in locker room for the anthem, teams to set their own rules under conduct detrimental.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 23, 2018
The policy will now include players having the right to remain in the locker room during the national anthem. Should said player or teams head to the sideline during the anthem and protest, the team itself will be fined.
It must also be noted that the NFLPA says it was not involved in these conversations.
Maybe this new rule proposal that is being voted on is a "compromise" between the NFL office and club CEOs on various sides of the issue, but certainly not with player leadership; we weren't there or part of the discussions.
— George Atallah (@GeorgeAtallah) May 23, 2018
The entire point of protest is to get your view across to the masses. By using the anthem as a tool, the Colin Kaepernick-led protests did make huge point. They also divided NFL’s fan base in a big way.
NFL owners are all about their own bottom line. If they believe that a continuation of these protests into the 2018 season would’ve impacted that, a change was obviously on the horizon.
It will certainly be interesting to see what comes of this. We’re sure that there will be push back by the players and their union. Some teams might even take it as far as to receive a fine by the NFL.
Owners might have tried to put an end to this two-year drama. In no way does that mean we’ve seen the end of national anthem protests around the NFL world.