The NFL might make it mandatory to stand for the national anthem

San Francisco 49ers.
(Image credit: Bobby Ellis/Getty Images)

Standing for the national anthem may be instituted as a mandatory policy in the NFL, CNBC reported Tuesday. Per a league spokesman, team owners will discuss at a meeting next week a potential rule change mandating all players stand during the playing of the national anthem.

Late Monday night, Deadspin reported that sometime in the last three years, the NFL already quietly changed its rule concerning player conduct during the anthem. In 2014, the league's national anthem policy — tucked away in its obscure Policy Manual for Member Clubs — stipulated that "during the playing of the national anthem, players on the field should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking." The 2017 version of the manual includes the same conduct directives, but the consequences for failure to do so have changed, Deadspin notes:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Kimberly Alters

Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.