...All of a sudden they realize that black lives matter too.  How very white of them!

 
Goodell said: "Without black players, there would be no National Football League."   A Freudian slip there - Goodell's five year contract could be worth up to $200 million.  He knows which side of his bread is buttered.  There's gonna be a lot of kneeling this year...maybe even Drew Brees will too.

 
http://sports.yahoo.com/roger-goodell-nfl-admits-we-were-wrong-on-player-protests-black-lives-matter-224540686.html

-- Modified on 6/5/2020 5:40:35 PM

The bottom line is always money. But I’d like to pose a hypothetical question. To what extent does a business owner have the right to require a certain code of contact of an employee while he/she is on company time? For example, suppose a restaurant owner has a waiter who tells customers to “fuck off” when they complain about something? Would there be any outrage or legal repercussions if that employee were fired? Of course not.  
So let’s jump to the NFL. If an owner told his team (employees) that they are certainly entitled to their opinions and they can express them anyway they want when they are not on the clock, but when they are working during an NFL game there is a code of conduct that the owner requires. And, suppose that code of contact is that they stand during the playing of the National Anthem. If the player/employee doesn’t want to go along with it, he can obviously resign.  
Of course, this is the purest form of how a business should operate, but since the bottom line in the NFL is money, it will never happen unless the loss of that money becomes a factor.
I also wonder how far this can go? Suppose some really disgruntled players start flipping the bird at the flag during the playing of the National Anthem? At what point does the average man say “Enough!”

The terms of this standard NFL Player Contract were agreed to in the collective bargaining between the player's union and the owners.  Here are the paragraphs which might apply to standing for the National Anthem:

 
11 - CONDUCT:  "...if Player has engaged in personal conduct reasonably judged by Club to adversely affect or reflect on Club, then Club may terminate this contract."
14 - RULES:  "Player will comply with and be bound by all reasonable Club rules and regulations in effect during the term of this contract..."
15 - INTEGRITY OF GAME:  "...is guilty of any other form of conduct reasonably judged by the League Commissioner to be detrimental to the League or professional football, the Commissioner will have the right...to terminate this contract."

 
The key is the word "reasonable."  That's where the lawyers come in.  Lawyers drew up the contract and then they get to make beaucoup bucks from both the players and the owners when the inevitable conflict occurs.  Ain't life grand!  

 
25 - SPECIAL PROVISIONS:  (This is blank.  The terms of this paragraph can be negotiated as long they don't vitiate the rest of the contract, the Collective Bargaining Agreement or public policy).

 
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1573683/000104746913009713/a2216998zex-10_3.htm