By Peter Gleason
NFL owners ended two days of meetings yesterday without enacting a measure that would require players to stand for the national anthem before games.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and some of the owners reiterated after the meeting that the league believes its players should stand for the anthem. But the owners did not implement a rule change mandating that.
“I think most of us believe that attempting to force the players to do something that they don’t want to do is not going to be effective in the long run,” New York Giants co-owner John Mara said. “I think the better policy going forward is to try to have dialogue with them and try to show them that we’re willing to work with them on some of these issues that all of us are concerned about. That’s been my philosophy with my team, and I think almost every other owner feels the same.”
The league has been under intense criticism by President Trump and some fans because of protests by players who have refused to stand during the anthem.
