The Dallas Cowboys tout themselves as “America’s Team.” And with a new edict from owner Jerry Jones, that’s never been more true.
Jones said on Wednesday that all Dallas Cowboys players will be required to stand on the sidelines for the national anthem in the 2018-19 season.
“Our policy is you stand during the anthem, toe on the line,” Jones said during a team press conference.
Jones’ declaration comes just days after the National Football League announced it would freeze a new policy that requires players to stand during the anthem — if they’re on the field. Teams could keep players in the locker room, where they can do whatever they wish.
The NFL said public criticism and push back from the players’ union, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), prompted league officials to table the policy.
“The NFL and NFLPA, through recent discussions, have been working on a resolution to the anthem issue,” the two entities said in a joint statement. “In order to allow this constructive dialogue to continue, we have come to a standstill agreement on the NFLPA’s grievance and on the NFL’s anthem policy.”
So now it’s not clear if the new policy will go into effect for the coming NFL season.
Although Jones supports standing for the anthem, he has been at odds with President Trump, who has been highly critical of players who take a knee.
“His interest in what we’re doing is problematic, from my chair, and I would say in general the owners’ chair,” Jones said. “It’s unprecedented, if you really think about it. But like the very game itself, that’s the way it is and we’ll deal with it.”
The whole brouhaha came after then-San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the anthem in the 2016-2017 NFL season to protest police brutality. Last year, even more NFL players knelt during the anthem, and the issue echoed around the country, drawing condemnation from Trump.
Since then, ratings for NFL games have dropped. At the end of the season, a survey found that 33% of NFL fans had totally boycotted the league this year. According to a poll by SurveyMonkey and Ozy Media, nearly a third said they did so “in support of Donald Trump.”
“Favorable” ratings for the NFL dropped to 44% from 57% from the end of August to the end of September. During the same period, the “unfavorable” rating rose to 40%, according to a Winston Group survey.