LOS ANGELES_Economic concerns explain the NFL's new national anthem policy. They don't justify them. Business is not a religion and shouldn't excuse behavior that would otherwise be considered sociopathic.
The NFL exploded in popularity and profitability at a time when most of its players were black. You would think this alone would make franchise owners sensitive to civil rights issues and want to help the community that produced the majority of its workforce. But rather than engage players who helped enrich them, the owners unilaterally decided to ban a form of protest that has effectively maintained a national conversation about racial injustice. Players will now be required to stand if they are on the field when the national anthem is played.
Some NFL players might be millionaires, but they share something with many Americans who work for large companies. Their employers don't respect them or what matters to them.
That's business, I guess.
NFL players are on less stable footing than their counterparts in other sports leagues, particularly because of the high risk of injury and relative scarcity of fully guaranteed salaries. This isn't the NBA, where the best players are empowered by how they can single-handedly alter the trajectory of a team. It's shouldn't be a surprise the NBA is the most socially progressive of the major American sports leagues.
By exploiting this dynamic, NFL owners are playing a dangerous game. The blatant lack of respect they have shown their employees could backfire on them in the form of increased player solidarity. Already, the union has promised to challenge any part of the policy they find to be in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. Unwittingly, the owners could be pushing the players into a direction that would threaten the league's current imbalanced power structure.
And that would be bad for business.
