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STANDING TO KNEEL:
ANALYZING NFL PLAYERS' FREEDOM TO
PROTEST DURING THE PLAYING OF
THE U.S. NATIONAL ANTHEM
Marc Edelman*
On September 22, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump held a campaign
rally in Huntsville, Alabama, where he suggested that the National Football
League (NFL) should fire all players who politically protest during the
playing of the U.S. national anthem (the national anthem).1 President
Trump then followed his statements with a series of tweets in which he
declared that, if the NFL continued to allow its players to protest during the
national anthem, the U.S. government should take away the league's
massive tax breaks.2
* Professor Marc Edelman (Marc@MarcEdelman.com) is a tenured Professor of Law at the
Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York. He is also an
adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law and a columnist for Forbes
SportsMoney. Professor Edelman advises numerous businesses on legal issues related to
antitrust, gaming, intellectual property, and sports law.
1. Julie Hirschfeld Davis & Jonathan Martin, At Alabama Rally, Trump Toggles
Between Republican Loyalists, N.Y. TIMES (Sept. 22, 2017), https://www.nytimes.com/
2017/09/22/us/politics/trump-luther-strange-alabama.html [https://perma.cc/9Y43-Q8M3];
see also Mark Maske, NFL Owners Could Change Anthem Policy Next Season If Protests
Continue, WASH. POST (Nov. 21, 2017), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/
sports/wp/2017/11/21/nfl-owners-weighing-change-to-anthem-policy-for-next-season-if-
protests-continue [https://perma.cc/AJ56-HSRY] (noting that President Trump specifically
stated during his speech that NFL owners should fire any player who protested during the
anthem, and referred to a protesting player as a being a son of a bitch). See generally
Jenna Johnson, 'I Love Alabama-It's Special': At Rally for Sen. Luther Strange, Trump
Vents Frustrations in Rambling Speech, WASH. POST (Sept. 23, 2017),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/23/i-love-alabama-its-
special-at-rally-for-sen-luther-strange-trump-vents-frustrations-in-rambling-speech
[http://perma.cc/C23E-D3ZM] (noting the city of President Trump's speech as Huntsville,
Alabama).
2. Ylan Mui, Trump Threatens to End NFL's 'Massive Tax Breaks' but His Tax Plan
Would Be Great for Sports Teams, CNBC (Oct. 10, 2017, 2:56 PM), https://www.cnbc.com/
2017/10/10/trump-threatens-to-end-nfls-massive-tax-cuts-but-theres-a-huge-one-in-his-tax-
plan.html [https://perma.cc/92M9-BE9M]; see also Maske, supra note 1. Subsequent to
these tweets, the White House clarified that when President Trump referenced massive tax
breaks, he was actually referring to public subsidies for sports stadiums. Tracy Jan, Did
Trump's Tweet Make It Safer for NFL Players to Kneel for the Anthem?, WASH. POST (Oct.
15, 2017), https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/did-trumps-tweet-make-it-
safer-for-nfl-players-to-kneel-for-the-anthem/2017/10/15/d99f20ca-af44-1 1e7-a908-
a3470754bbb9_story.html [https://perma.cc/PWM4-2FJN]; cf Marc Edelman, Sports and
the City: How to Curb Professional Sports Teams' Demands for Free Public Stadiums, 6
1](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/resgest8&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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