Roger Goodell had a mea culpa.
"We were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier," the league's commissioner said in a video statement as the nation continued its vehement and persistent protest in the aftermath of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
Yet, based on his track record, and that of NFL owners, it's difficult to believe it was an awakening.
For the direction the wind blows, Roger Goodell and the NFL go.
Initially, the NFL did allow players protesting during the national anthem.
We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black People. We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter. #InspireChange pic.twitter.com/ENWQP8A0sv
— NFL (@NFL) June 5, 2020After then-49ers' quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat for the national anthem during a preseason game in 2016 to protest police brutality of what he termed "black people and people of color," the NFL issued the following statement:
"Players are encouraged but not required to stand during the playing of the national anthem."
Kaepernick later revised his protest to kneeling.
On Sept. 24, 2017, players locked arms during the national anthem, many with owners among them - including the Lions' Martha Ford and her three daughters in Detroit. It was two days after President Trump, uttering profanity in the process, encouraged the NFL to fire players for such protests at a rally in Alabama.
However, the support faded that season as television ratings cratered, dropping 10 percent, and one of the main reasons cited being the protests.
The kneeling morphed into the ultimate political football, and Goodell and the NFL quickly punted.
By May of the following year, NFL owners passed a policy banning on-field protests and threatened fines for teams.
Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones, who also locked arms with his players in '17, made it clear during the ensuing training camp his athletes were expected to comply - or else.
The bottom line fiscally for the NFL isn't everything, it's the only thing.
The NFL's disingenuousness hasn't been exclusive to racial issues.
For years, the NFL denied, dismissed, discarded and downplayed the concussion crisis despite clear-cut, independent and scientific evidence. Eventually, the league bought its way out by settling a class-act lawsuit which hardly cleansed the soiling.
The NFL minimized domestic violence until the most revealing elevator tape of Ray Rice knocking out his soon-to-be wife was revealed. The Ravens' running back had only been given a two-game suspension until then.
There is no denying the popularity of the NFL product. It's a $16 billion annual industry. It's a license to print money and grow equity for its multibillionaire owners. The NFL breaks even before a ticket is sold because of its enormous national television revenue deals.
There is a probability NFL games this fall will be played without fans because of the pandemic.
What will that mean for the national anthem? Could it be an excuse not to play it? If it is played as traditionally, would the inevitable player protests be covered in anything resembling a journalistic manner by networks often cowering in fear of the mighty NFL?
When the current storm settles, could there be a pushback in the opposite direction like there was in 2017? If so, will Goodell and the NFL react similarly if it hurts ratings and the bottom line?
On the field, the NFL provides incredible entertainment.
Off the field, the NFL is often excessively greedy, insensitive, insular, downright vindictive and decidedly spineless.
Maybe this is different. Perhaps Goodell and NFL owners had a collective epiphany and discovered a conscience and developed some backbone.
Perhaps this is a sign the league is finally standing for something more than the self interest of its insulated owners and the commissioner beholden to them.
That is the hope.
Yet, it could be an unrealistic expectation given the NFL's dismal past.
