So?
You too can buy a team and as an owner have a say in what can and cannot be done.
The NFL would be perfectly within their rights as a private enterprise to "tell" the players to stand and place their hand over their hearts during the 1:44 National Anthem and presentation of the colors. But they haven't done that, have they?
For me, that's not what this is about. I'm all about private companies/franchises having their say in how they deal with these things. Face the consequences of their actions when hits them hard in their wallets and they will quickly change their minds; and I think it's coming. Right-minded Americans are fed up with this sort of selfish, me, me, me attitude in this country.
What this is really about for me is these people and their inability to legitimately look at what that flag represents. That flag, which represents the nation and its government, has afforded them great opportunity, and the wealth that came with it. None of it exists without the many millions that died protecting all of it. These kneelers have lost sight of that blessing. That's not to say there isn't oppression and brutality going on by our police and other law enforcement; perhaps much targeted at people of color. The flag doesn't represent that. The country doesn't stand for that. We have come a long way in rectifying the wrongs committed by this country. THAT'S what that flag represents. Millions of white people died to free slaves. Whites banned slavery. Millions of white people worked hard and protested side-by-side with black protesters during the civil rights movement. White people passed the Civil Right Act of 1964.
Why is it so hard for these kneelers to recognize the TRUE meaning of what that flag represents? I don't want them to be forced by their team owners or the NFL to stop, I want them to wake up and see the truth, and stop behaving like a bunch of sniveling whiners. They are hired, and paid big money to play a stupid game. Play the damn game. Do all the other stuff elsewhere. And recognize what that flag really represents.