The National Football League has had to manage its way through politics for much of the last ten years. While officially they have remained committed to social justice causes, in practice this issue is much more complicated.

The NFL’s modern history with politics started on September 1st, 2016 when Colin Kaepernick first took a knee during the national anthem which was played before that day’s game. Kaepernick, who at the time was the Quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, said that he was “not going to stand up to show pride for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” Many of his teammates subsequently joined him in his protest, citing ongoing issues of police brutality as a chief reason.

Many fans were outraged by Kaepernick’s protest, some said that athletes should simply be focusing on the game, others opposed his protest for political reasons. After the 2016-2017 season Kaepernick was not brought back by the 49ers, and was unable to sign with any team that off season. That season ended up being his final season in the NFL, despite multiple sources including NFL head coaches arguing that he had the athletic ability to keep playing. Kaepernick eventually sued the NFL in October 2017, arguing that NFL owners colluded to

ensure that he would be unable to play in the NFL anymore, and in 2019 was awarded a confidential settlement.

At this time Donald Trump, who was serving his first term as president, was extremely vocal about his opposition to Kaepernick and other players who kneeled during the national anthem. In May 2018 the NFL decided to ban the practice of kneeling during the national anthem, and insisted that if players wished to protest the national anthem they were required to remain in the locker room until after the playing of the anthem. Trump argued that his new policy did not go far enough to punish players for their protest, and stated that players who refused to stand for the national anthem “Maybe shouldn’t be in the country.”

Also in 2018, after winning the superbowl the Philadelphia Eagles were invited to dine at the white house, as is tradition for the winners of each major American sport. Many Eagles players took issue with Trump’s statements on kneeling and rejected the invitation, and eventually the president decided to rescind the invitations of the entire team, despite the reduced delegation that was willing to attend the white house.

The conversation around police brutality once again returned to the political forefront in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. In response to this, the NFL decided that they would be spraying the words “end racism” in the back of each end zone at the beginning of the 2020 season, a policy that remained in place for over four years until this past February, when the nfl decided that ahead of the superbowl, they would not be spraying end racism on the field. This was coincidentally four days after Donald Trump announced that he would be attending the superbowl. Just recently, it was also announced that the Philadelphia Eagles, who are once again Superbowl Champions, will be attending dinner at the WhiteHouse on April 28th.

The NFL is an outlier among many companies that wish to downplay diversity initiatives in the current political climate, unlike companies such as Meta the NFL has officially stated their current commitment to diversity initiatives within the company. In some way this could appear like the NFL does have some genuine belief in Diversity Equity and Inclusion, however this does not in any way erase the visible double standard around player protest. While Kaepernick was seemingly blacklisted for a decision which, at the time, was absolutely allowed under the rules of the NFL, there has seemingly been no effort to regulate player conduct in other similar or worse areas.

When 49ers defensive lineman Nick Bosa wore a make america great again hat on the field after a game, very few scolded him for not focusing on football. When Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker rallied against IVF, birth control, and women in the workforce, the NFL remained silent because Butker was within his rights to do so. While he was cut from the team when it happened, the Kansas City Chiefs were ready and willing to welcome back Running Back Kareem Hunt to the team despite video proof of him beating a woman in public. Players in the NFL are routinely allowed to do anything they want in their personal lives and be welcomed back on the field, unless what players want to do is protest police brutality, in that case the NFL will take action to ban player protest.

While the NFL themselves did not target Kaepernick for his views directly, they absolutely failed to protect his right to freedom of speech from team owners who would not tolerate a player so outspoken on these sorts of issues. It appears that above all the NFL is deeply invested in the appearance of political neutrality, even if that takes the form of a clear double standard when it comes to players engaging with politics. The NFL as a brand has a clear financial incentive to cater towards all political affiliations, and therefore do their best to be palatable to everyone, whether that means they support or deny social justice causes depends on the moment.

While spray painting the words “end racism” on fields was not an overt political statement, merely affirming the public that the NFL did indeed think that racism was wrong, removing those words absolutely was a political statement. It tells everyone that their commitments are ultimately hollow, that while the NFL does think that racism is wrong, they would never dare say that to someone who did not want to hear it. The NFL’s replacement for end racism was choose love, which reads as a sentence specifically designed to appear like a political statement, without actually saying anything at all that could insinuate that the NFL believed anything.

Trump’s strong influence on the NFL is felt in every aspect of the game. Trump was the first sitting president to attend the superbowl, which he did as the express guest of Saints owner Gayle Benson. Trump is friends with many of the owners, including Patriots owner Robert Kraft who has invited Trump to quite a few games in the past. During Trump’s first run for president, Tom Brady even allegedly kept a make america great again hat in his locker. Trump, unlike past presidents, clearly wants a strong association with the NFL. In the past, the president always preferred slight association with America’s most popular sport, but kept their distances for a variety of reasons, whether it was concerns that the game was too violent, or to not over politicize a game which for many is an escape from the stressors of daily life.

Trump instead revels in the game, often attending games, tweeting about the state of the league, and generally making known his opinions on the league. The NFL has reacted to this strangely. They have not fully accepted him like other companies but have certainly done nothing to work against his influence. The NFL and Trump work in a symbiotic relationship, the more dedicated they are to each other the more that dedicated fans of one become fans of the other.

The NFL has made it clear that they will not attempt to correct player conduct unless that conduct in some way makes them appear anti american. The primary political position of the NFL is one in which the NFL is the ultimate symbol of American patriotism. The NFL does a great deal to make sure this is the case, fighter jets routinely soar above games spraying the colors of the American flag behind them, multiple games are played on every thanksgiving, and even the logo is intentionally designed to resemble an American flag. In practice, this means the NFL will always buckle to whichever side of a political issue that appears to be popular and coincide with that mission.

The NFL obviously allows players political speech and protest because that is the American way, but when a player dares to kneel the image of football as patriotism fades, and is therefore worthy of punishment. It is unacceptable that legitimate forms of protest such as kneeling leave a player blacklisted, but the NFL routinely allows players known to have committed violent crimes during their NFL careers to go unpunished.

If the NFL is truly committed to Diversity, they need to do more than simply relay that information on their website, and they especially need to stop rebranding their messaging because the President might not like it. Thank you for listening to this episode of Magnolia on mic.