With tweets by President Donald Trump and reports that the NFL will require players to stand for the national anthem circulated early this week, the NFL and NFL Players Association released a joint statement late Wednesday.
The statement clarified that the NFL has not created a rule demanding players stand during the playing of the national anthem, but rather commissioner Roger Goodell reached out to the NFLPA on Wednesday to invite executive director DeMaurice Smith and the player leadership to attend the league meetings next week.
“The agenda (of next week’s meetings) will be a continuation of how to make progress on the important social issues that players have vocalized,” the joint statement read. “Everyone who is part of our NFL community has a tremendous respect for our country, our flag, our anthem and our military, and we are coming together to deal with these issues in a civil and constructive way.”
It was first announced the NFL owners and Goodell would meet to discuss the anthem on Tuesday with a statement by Goodell that did not include reference to any players being in attendance.
The statement did reflect the League’s desire to have players stand during the anthem, but acknowledged the players want to use their voices to speak about “social issues.”
The statement did not detail the social issues as police brutality and social injustice— the reasons NFL players have taken a knee during the playing of the national anthem over the past year.
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