League did not let NFL owners officially vote on new anthem policy before release
In announcing the league’s new national anthem policy on Wednesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell claimed that the decision to adopt the new policy was the result of a “unanimous” vote among owners.
Goodell’s statement, however, seems a bit misleading when considering the fact that not only did at least two owners abstain, but a formal vote was never actually taken, per ESPN’s Seth Wickersham.
As I just said on @OTLonESPN sources in the room told me there was no official vote for the anthem resolution. League execs polled owners and knew how they’d vote but didn’t hold an official vote, atypical for such a major resolution.
— Seth Wickersham (@SethWickersham) May 24, 2018
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed Thursday that there was no official vote, though he told ESPN the league ascertained support for the new policy by asking for a show of hands from owners. Apparently, “there were zero nays,” ESPN reported.
“That was considered a vote,” McCarthy said.
According to Wickersham, the NFL wanted to be sure the motion would pass, which might explain why no formal vote was taken.
League execs wanted to ensure that the resolution would not fail, so asked for a show of hands, overwhelmingly in support. "That was considered a vote," says a league spokesman. https://t.co/Cr61JL89aS https://t.co/PELjtNXvHR
— Seth Wickersham (@SethWickersham) May 24, 2018
At least prior to the owners’ meeting, not everyone was on board with changing the old national anthem policy, which did not penalize players who protested racial injustice by kneeling during the playing of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
The new policy mandates that players who are on the sidelines for the anthem must stand, though they can choose to stay in the locker room and not participate. Teams will be fined if any of their players or personnel do not stand for the national anthem while on the field.
According to NFL.com’s Jim Trotter, there were between eight and 10 owners who wanted to keep the policy the way it was.
The anthem vote is particularly interesting in that 8-10 owners – before the meetings – privately expressed support for keeping policy as is. Some told me they believed the protests were fading and the focus should be on the positive community work being done by players/league.
— Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) May 24, 2018
That sentiment seemed to carry over into the meeting itself, as both Raiders owner Marc Davis and 49ers owner Jed York said they abstained from the vote.
Of course, some owners and league executives support the new policy, arguing that fans want players to respect the national anthem and what it stands for.
“We heard from a lot of fans over the last six months,” Steelers Art Rooney told Sports Illustrated. “No question that was part of the decision-making. (Those) people expect the players to be respectful during the anthem. Pretty simple.”
Cowboys COO Stephen Jones, meanwhile, said fans don’t want to have to think about politics when they’re watching football games.
“People come to our games to get away from everything,” Jones said. “They don’t want to worry about their finances, they don’t want to worry about their job, they don’t want to worry about what’s in the news. They want to get away and relax for three or four hours.”
One thing is for sure: No matter what the NFL did to address the national anthem protests, a lot of people were going to be unhappy.
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