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


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:
The 2014 policy reads that failure to be on the field by the start of the national anthem may "result in disciplinary action from the League office." The version currently being promulgated by the NFL revises this to read "result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violation of the above, including first offenses."
That’s a pretty big change for two reasons: They've added a lot of punishment, and they've removed the language that punishment would come from the league office. We don't know when the change was made; its language did not appear on the web at all until two weeks ago, and questions sent to an NFL spokesperson have yet to be answered. [Deadspin]
It is unclear what punishments the league owners would consider for players who defy a new mandatory standing rule. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality against people of color, though this season the protest has become embroiled in broader political turmoil.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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 for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loom
Speed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panels
Speed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of business
Speed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pauses
Speed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect