NFL Owners Continuing Discussion On What To Do About Anthem Protests

After hours of debate and idea sharing, NFL owners continue their discussions on how to handle players who protest during the playing of the National Anthem before games.

Despite the owner's efforts to quell the animosity around the issue by creating an $89 million social justice platform, recent collusion lawsuits from Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid regarding their protests keeps the issue in the public eye. Their lawsuits claim NFL owners are blackballing them from the NFL because of their protests.

Players and owners have certainly been divided on this issue and so too have fans which has kept this discussion on the forefront with the owners at their meetings.

Among the ideas shared in the meeting according to an ESPN report:

• Allow each team to implement its own policy
• Clear the field of all football personnel while the anthem is played
• Instruct players who don't want to stand to remain in the locker room while the anthem is played
• Impose penalties on teams and players who do not stand, including a 15-yard penalty and/or fines
• Add contract language that requires players to stand
• Leave the current policy in place

The League's current policy is that players "should" stand for the anthem but there is no language requiring them to do so.

ESPN's sources indicate an owner's resolution of some kind could come out as early as today.