President Trump on Wednesday slammed the idea of keeping NFL players in their locker rooms during the playing of the National Anthem, calling it “almost as bad as kneeling.”
The policy change is reportedly being mulled over by team owners looking toward the league’s next season as a solution to the fallout from protests this year.
Trump tweeted asking when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will “finally get tough and smart” on the issue.
He added that the NFL Anthem protests are "killing" the league.
“The NFL is now thinking about a new idea - keeping teams in the Locker Room during the National Anthem next season,” Trump tweeted. “That’s almost as bad as kneeling! When will the highly paid Commissioner finally get tough and smart? This issue is killing your league!”
The protests and the NFL's refusal to change its policy to address them have hurt the league's ratings and merchandising this year, as fans continue to boycott watching the games and have burned or otherwise gotten rid of their jerseys and memorabilia.
Commissioner Goodell has said that he believes players "should" stand for the anthem, but has no plans to force them to do so.
In October, during a series of meetings with team owners and executives on the issue, Goodell defended NFL players who continue to protest despite fan upset, saying, “They are not doing this in any way to be disrespectful to the flag.”
He said he wishes we could all "get back to football."
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