NFL changes policy and will fine teams that have players that kneel during the national anthem.

Rodger Goodell. Yahoo/AP

The NFL has changed it's rules on the national anthem so that teams will be fined if players kneel during the anthem. Yahoo Sports. Players will be given the option to skip the anthem if they choose but if they kneel during the anthem their team will be issued a fine. The individual teams could issue fines as well in addition to the league fines. The NFL owners were unanimous in the rule with all 32 teams approving or abstaining from the vote. The NFL has been under pressure from the public and President Trump to do something about kneeling players. 

My Comment:

Too little too late, as far as I am concerned. If the NFL had come up with this policy early last season when the protests really taken off, they might have preserved some of their fans. But now? The fans they have lost won't be impressed by this half measure. 

It also seems like this move is a fairly cynical one, only done because of the massive drop in ratings the NFL suffered last season. To say that the fan base was upset with the kneelers is an understatement. Many people, including myself, were furious that the NFL had been politicized over such a non-issue. 

Keep in mind the whole protest was in favor of Black Lives Matter, a protest movement based on the false narrative that young black men are shot down in cold blood by cops. In reality, such events are extremely rare and many of the cases invoked by the movement were later found out to be completely justified. And let's not forget that the movement has inspired several murders and terrorist attacks against innocent police officers. 

So not only were these football players protesting during the anthem, they were doing for a cause that many disagreed with and consider dangerous. President Trump put the spotlight onto the issue and it appears that he won out in the end. The league seemed to come together in opposition to Trump, reforming the protest a referendum on his presidency, while leaving the original cause behind. 

This, of course, angered football fans even more. It was bad enough when it was just about Black Lives Matter, but when every game turned into another two minutes hate against the Trump administration, people tuned out. Republicans were pissed at the political message while others were just sick and tired of the game turning political. Many were in both camps, including myself. 

People tuned out and the NFL was hemorrhaging money. Some advertisers backed out and viewership slipped quite a bit. It was clear that something had to be done as Vince McMahon was bringing back the XFL and there was a chance that the league would succeed just out of spite. 

Of course now the NFL has put itself in a bad position. Those of us that were angry about the protests are angry that this doesn't go far enough. Instead of firing players who kneel, they will continue to have jobs and will continue to disrespect the anthem by staying inside while it is playing. It's not going far enough. I personally don't know if I will watch the NFL next season and I have seen a lot of talk on social media that people still won't watch despite this rule change. They are either mad that this doesn't go far enough or are just so sick of the league in general they don't care what they do. 

And on the other side of the coin, the political left will be furious with this move and may even boycott the NFL as well. Though I have never though leftist NFL fans were that numerous, they do exist and if more of them drop out than the people that come back the NFL will be in even worse shape this season than they were last season. 

Of course, the players themselves may cause issues for the NFL as well. The union is furious about this and may cause consequences for the NFL. After all, the players are the product and if they aren't happy they can protest, further angering everyone or even stop working. It's a huge mess. 

In short the NFL won't win back many of their conservative fans with this measure and those that are sick of the politicization of the league won't be mollified by this move. They also risk a counter boycott movement from the left and may even piss off their players enough that they might not even play. Could the NFL have handled this any worse? I don't see how. 

The worst thing is that all of this could have been prevented if the NFL had just cracked down on the protest when they first started with Colin Kaepernick. Had they just suspended him right away, made it very clear that other players would be punished if they followed his lead and said something like "we support free speech, but there is a time and place for everything. The anthem and during games is not that time and place". Sure they would have gotten some left wing flack but it wouldn't have turned into this huge issue that we are still talking about today. 

This also has to be seen as a victory for Donald Trump. Though anger with the NFL existed long before Trump even considered running for president, he galvanized the right and made us realize that we really could do something about the way the NFL was acting. Trump used his bully pulpit to create real change in the league and he will probably gain credit for it.