On Saturday night Aug. 18 at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., well before Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers would make his first preseason appearance of 2018 (and drive 70 yards on nine plays and score against the Seattle Seahawks), another match of sorts was taking place. One that will play out at games across the National Football League and be meticulously chronicled by the media, league, fans and others in much the same manner as gridiron groupies have for decades pored over stats like completion percentages, average rushing yards and interceptions returned for touchdowns.
Albert Wilson of the Miami Dolphins kneels during the anthem Aug. 18. (Getty Images)
After “The Star-Spangled Banner” ended in Carson, the tally was revealed: one Charger player raised his fist and three members of the Seahawks emerged from the tunnel post-anthem to join their teammates. Elsewhere the same weekend, a Philadelphia Eagle wore a shirt stating, “You Weren’t Listening,” and a Miami Dolphin kneeled. For these actions some booed, others cheered. President Trump tweeted.
Welcome to America’s game in 2018.
While the players union and league have squared off on the issue over the past two years and politicians and the media have entered the fray, venues have been left largely on their own to figure out how best to deal with this sticky issue. It’s one that affects stadium security, operations, the overall fan experience and perhaps, in the end, the health of the sport itself. The average NFL franchise is now worth about $2.5 billion, up 8 percent over last year, according to Forbes.
“The NFL has been punting this issue around for over a year now and they’re under a lot of political pressure, which being America’s pastime, they are very sensitive about,” said Steve Adelman, vice president of the Event Safety Alliance, an advocacy group. “With the president calling them out, you can’t blame them for not knowing which way is the right way to go on this.”
Adelman said event security has been greatly affected by the anthem controversy now that those few minutes before games have taken over the conversation.
“As of two years ago there is a new hot button issue in the stands that wasn’t there before players started to kneel or raise their fist or stay in the locker room,” he said. “Now it’s turned into a divisive issue that passionate, well-intentioned fans can get upset about.”
Los Angeles Chargers players stand during the anthem Aug. 18. (Getty Images)
The national anthem as a political issue in the NFL entered the American consciousness two years ago, on Aug. 26, 2016, when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was photographed sitting during the anthem before a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium.
Interviewed later by NFL.com, Kaepernick explained his position: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”
At the time, the issue of police shootings of unarmed African-Americans had gained national and international attention, most prominently with the killing of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014, which resulted in large and sometimes violent protests. Kaepernick, who is of mixed race, said he would not stop protesting, even if it meant risking his professional football career. (Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since 2016 after leading the 49ers to the 2012 Super Bowl).
The movement has continued. Other players such as Jeremy Lane, Eric Reid, Marcus Peters, Arian Foster, Michael Thomas, Jelani Jenkins and Kenny Stills, Brandon Marshall, Martellus Bennett and Devin McCourty joined the protest after Kaepernick’s public display.
It has only been since 2009 that players began taking the field for the anthem. Previously, they stayed in the locker room. There is no rule in the NFL against kneeling during the anthem. Nor is there protocol in place for venues. Much of this is still uncharted waters that has resulted in venues having to change operations.
“Security guards and guest services professionals and law enforcement now have to be particularly vigilant even before kickoff,” Adelman said, “a time that generally was not very significant from a security standpoint before the anthem issue began.”
From an event security perspective, Adelman said NFL stadiums are well-protected.
“They have amazing closed-circuit TV and can see into every corner and crevice of the stands. The problem is they don’t have clear sight lines into certain sections of the concourses,” he said. “The areas that the NFL will have to be particularly vigilant about are the areas where they may not have perfect sight lines.”
Russ Simons, a principal with Venues Solutions Group and operations consultant for the new NFL stadium under construction in Inglewood, Calif., said the Los Angeles Dodgers have shut operations down for the anthem for many years now. Levi’s Stadium recently adopted a similar policy, which extends to purchases at the team store and fans entering the stadium just before kickoff.
“At Dodger Stadium, the stand workers stop selling, the ticket takers stop taking, and for that moment in time, culturally, they’ve chosen to focus on the anthem,” he said. “I’m not aware of any complaints from fans over the policy.”
“Things change from a guest experience perspective all the time,” Simons said. “We’re in a period of time when something that was innocuous and went unnoticed is now controversial. What everyone wants is a quick answer here, but I don’t think that’s going to be available. This will be a process. “
It’s a high-risk proposition considering the billions in revenue generated by the NFL, which despite slipping TV ratings, continues to rise, thanks in part to long-term media deals with escalating payments. According to financial records for the Packers, the NFL’s only publicly held team, the amount of money the NFL distributed to teams grew from $7.8 billion in 2016 to $8.1 billion in 2017.
And though TV ratings are down for most broadcasters, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, NFL games last year accounted for 37 of the year’s top 50 broadcasts, or nearly three-quarters of the most-watched TV programs, a 32 percent increase over 2016.
At the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the anthem issue has had little effect to date, according to Joe Furin, the stadium’s general manager.
The Rams will play four seasons at the Coliseum before moving into their new home in Inglewood in 2020, and Furin said his venue has no concerns surrounding the playing of the anthem and extra security measures.
“Nothing securitywise has been changed since the anthem controversy began,” he said. “We get all of our security directives from the NFL and nothing has been put forth about this topic. There’s support on both sides on the issue. But nothing has turned to confrontation or caused us to change the way we run the venue.”
Furin said shutting down Legends’ food and drink operation at the Coliseum has not been considered. Some stands run by outside contractors have paused during the anthem since the Rams started playing at the facility, and he said coliseum staff respects those moves.
“Because of the age of the venue, some of the stands can’t even hear or see the field when the anthem is being played,” Furin said. “It would be very difficult for everything to go silent in our building at the same time.”
Separately, the Rams decide which images are displayed on the stadium’s video board during the anthem, Furin said.
Apart from stadium operators, the controversy has touched a nerve across the country.
On one side are the free-speech rights of the players and their First Amendment right to stand, kneel, raise their fist and express themselves as they see fit for the playing of the anthem, with the principle of freedom of expression and lawful protest being a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution.
“The First Amendment says Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech. The NFL owners, while a powerful group, are not Congress,” said Bernie Rhodes, an attorney with Lathrop Gage, a law firm specializing in First Amendment issues.
On the flip side is the team owners’ right to have their players behave in accordance with company policies and not cause harm to their brand and business.
“Employees don’t have a constitutional right to free speech or freedom of expression at work,” human resources expert and attorney Heather Bussing wrote on the HR Examiner website. “The Constitution’s right to free speech only applies when the government is trying to restrict it.”
In May, the NFL announced a new policy that said it would fine any team that did not “stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.”
Tennessee Titans star Jurrell Casey told CNN he would protest on the sideline during the national anthem and pay whatever fine necessary.
Casey was quickly backed up by the NFL Players Association, which filed a grievance against the league July 10, stating that the policy “infringes on players’ rights.”
“The union’s claim is that this new policy, imposed by the NFL’s governing body without consultation with the NFLPA, is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement,” the union said in a statement.
Blitzed by the players association and some team owners and fans, the league put the new policy on hold in July.
“The NFL and NFLPA, through recent discussions, have been working on a resolution to the anthem issue,” read a joint statement from the two organizations. “In order to allow this constructive dialogue to continue, we have come to a standstill agreement on the NFLPA’s grievance and on the NFL’s anthem policy.”
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy did not respond to an email for league comment on the issue.
President Trump attacked the NFL for forgoing the March policy and declared on Twitter that “the national anthem debate is alive and well again.”
A majority of Americans, 58 percent to 35 percent, believe NFL players who kneel during the national anthem in protest are “not unpatriotic,” according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll.
Fans “are clearly torn on the national anthem issue,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. The majority “seem to be saying, ‘You can still love your country and kneel during its anthem.’”
For the NFL and the venues that host them, though, the anthem issue does not appear that it will be resolved anytime soon. The issue will ultimately be decided by the fans, Simons said.
“The guests will vote with their wallets,” he said. “If they don’t support whatever decisions come down and we are out of whack with the fans, they will just stop coming.”