What NFL owners told players in a secret meeting about anthem protests revealed
In October, a group of NFL owners, executives and players met behind closed doors to discuss the controversy over players’ protests during the national anthem.
“Let’s make sure that we keep this confidential,” Commissioner Roger Goodell told them to start the session at NFL headquarters in New York.
As Goodell requested, the discussion was indeed kept secret — until now.
The New York Times, which obtained an audio recording of the three-hour meeting, published a report Wednesday detailing what was said.
One clear takeaway from the report is that the NFL owners placed responsibility for the anthem protest controversy not on the players but on President Donald Trump.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft — a longtime friend of Trump’s — spoke harshly about the president in the private meeting, according to The Times.
Speaking about players kneeling during the anthem, Kraft said, “The problem we have is, we have a president who will use that as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America. It’s divisive and it’s horrible.”
The owners pointed to Trump’s harsh criticism of the anthem protests on Twitter and in a speech the previous month.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b—- off the field right now, he’s fired!’?” the president said at a September 2017 rally in Alabama. The following week, players around the league responded by staging a variety of protests during the anthem.
The owners at the Oct. 17 meeting urged the players not to respond in such a way to the president’s criticism.
“We’ve got to be careful not to be baited by Trump or whomever else,” Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeff Lurie told them. “We have to find a way to not be divided and not get baited.”
Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula sounded very worried that the president would again speak out against the protests.
“All Donald needs to do is to start to do this again,” Pegula said. “We need some kind of immediate plan because of what’s going on in society. All of us now, we need to put a Band-Aid on what’s going on in the country.”
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan responded that the president couldn’t cause more trouble for the league than he already had. “All the damage Trump’s going to do is done,” Khan said.
The owners’ chief concern was how fans’ anger over the divisive protests was affecting their bottom line. Television ratings declined last season and many fans declared they were boycotting in response to the anthem protests, which they view as disrespectful to U.S. servicemen and women, veterans and fallen troops.
The Houston Texans owner Bob McNair told the players the solution to the anthem controversy was clear: They should tell their colleagues to stop the protests.
“You fellas need to ask your compadres, fellas, stop that other business, let’s go out and do something that really produces positive results, and we’ll help you,” McNair said.
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