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Al Jazeera reports
The National Football League (NFL) announced a new policy that will fine teams an undetermined amount if players on the field fail to stand during the national anthem.
[...] The new policy does not require players be present during the anthem, allowing those who wish to protest and not attend the ceremonial act to remain in the locker room.
Players said they were not consulted and threatened to challenge the policy in the courts. A statement by the NFL Players Association said its athletes had shown ample patriotism by way of their social activism and community support initiatives.
[...] New York Jets chairman Christopher Johnson said he supported the measure out of obligation to the membership, but said players can take a knee or perform another type of protest without fear of repercussion from the team. He will pay their fines.
"If somebody [on the Jets] takes a knee, that fine will be borne by the organisation, by me, not the players. I never want to put restrictions on the speech of our players," Johnson said.
New York Magazine notes
The monetary risk to Johnson isn't huge, since no Jets players took a knee last season. [...] Johnson is currently acting as owner of the team while his brother, Woody Johnson, serves as Trump's ambassador to Britain.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Tuesday May 29 2018, @04:06AM
Do you even read the shit you spew before hitting submit?
Please reconcile:
So you assert they aren't just being seditious, they are SCREWING OVER A PRIME LEAGUE SPONSOR, and it is still a non-job related thing? The morons might as well show up in Nike footwear! (Reebok is the official equipment sponsor.)
But your argument fails on a more basic level of the premise being defective. Every sports league writes in rules governing public behavior of players no matter where they are and control is pretty much absolute if they are suited up in the official team uniform. From the time they go into the locker room (because select sports press are often allowed access) to the time they come back out in their off duty cloths they are "on the clock" and must consider themselves "on camera" where their actions have maximum ability to reflect poorly upon the reputation of both the team and the league in general.
Pretty much the same as anyone else in show business. Let an actor on a press junket misbehave and the same fire and brimstone will fall upon them, and for the same reason. Being cast in a major motion picture, where thousands of people will profit or lose money on the project, is not a green light to use the spotlight provided by studio PR shop to flog a personal political hobbyhorse. Anyone who isn't a team player enough to understand and obey these common sense rules should pick a different profession.
These "protests" have only went on this long because the league either quietly approves or fears attempting to enforce the usual contract terms for fear of what the Democrats would do to them. Said fear apparently being, for now, greater than their fear of losing viewers after a 10% drop in ratings already, a number certain to grow.