The N.F.L. tried to straighten up its messy bed. Now it’s going to see how sleeping in it goes.
After nearly two years of hand-wringing, the league’s 32 owners decided on Wednesday to overhaul N.F.L. policy on protocol for the national anthem. At their two-day meeting in Atlanta, the owners said the league now would allow players to stay in the locker room during the playing of “The Star Spangled Banner,” but said that teams would be fined if players “do not stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem.” Then there is this hammer: those teams can then punish players however they see fit.