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New NFL Anthem Policy

Hayeya

Hayeya

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,862
Canada
linkboy said:
Two year ago, (then) 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick wasn't standing for the National Anthem. This went on for two preseason games before anyone noticed. After it was noticed, he was interviewed and said that he refused to stand for the national anthem because he feels this country isn't standing up to the ideals it represents (his main point being African American's being harassed and murdered by the police).

He talked to a former US service member (a Marine) who told him that kneeling would be a more respectful act. For the entirety of the 2016 season, Kaepernick knelt and more players joined him.

As a result, Trump turned it into a disrespect the flag/troops things and all of his followers latched onto the narrative.

It reached a head last season when Trump called all players who knelt "Sons of Bitches" and said they should leave the country if they don't respect the flag and the anthem.

The entire situation had pretty much died down by the Playoffs and the Super Bowl until the NFL decided to resurrect everything with the new policy they passed last week.

Prior to 2009, the players remained in the locker room for the playing of the anthem. It wasn't until the Department of Defense paid the NFL and some teams to have US service members on the field for the flag/anthem. It turned the playing of the anthem into noting but a political recruitment tool.

In the meantime, Kaepernick was released by the 49ers and has effectively been blacklisted by the NFL and will probably never play another down. The same applies to Eric Reid, one of his teammates with the 49ers and another player who knelt.
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Thanks for the recap, appreciated.
Things seem to be Fucked up.
 
Striker

Striker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,450
He wasn't released (he may have if he didn't restructure his deal). He opted out and as for Reid, he was a free agent. He's still available as are other former starters (Tre Boston and Kenny Vaccaro).
 
CrankyJay

CrankyJay

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,318
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,536
ishan said:
Wait what lol this makes no sense in my head . It's a non profit what how wtf
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The organizing body, the NFL, is technically non-profit, as many sports organizations are in the US. The teams / owners themselves, are for-profit organizations that pay taxes. The NFL is, by the books, just an oversight committee, similar to a trade organization. It does have an independent budget (expenses, revenue, etc), but that budget is determined by the profits of the teams themselves, which is taxed like any normal corporation. Further, as a non-profit, all additional profit that the NFL itself generates (Say, through licensing the "NFL" shield on a product) has to be divided up to the teams, which then in turn pay tax when they receive the share of that revenue.

Some professional sports organizations dropped their non-profit status because it gives them more flexibility with how they hold and spend profit. For instance, MLB dropped its non-profit status in the mid-2000s... But it didn't do so for some noble purpose or an interest to pay whats due to the states, it did so that it had more flexibility in investing profits from MLB into for-profit enterprises, more co-marketing deals, and greater flexibility with less oversight on how it spent revenue, or how revenue had to be divided up amongst its trade group members (MLB teams).

A conservative Republican proposed a bill last year that would strip all major professional sports organizations of their non-profit status, but it didn't get through congress.

*edit*

I originally wrote NBA when dropping the status in the mid-2000s, it was MLB.
 
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