President Donald Trump took his frustrations with the National Football League a notch higher pointing out the new national anthem policy as worse.
Trump has been adamant with NFL players who are protesting systemic injustices by kneeling during the national anthem in games. Earlier this year, the league has allowed the players to not be on the field during the national anthem to avert future protests.
The teams will have the right to punish their own personnel if they fail to follow the league's protocols. In addition, the NFL can also impose fines on teams if their players decide to transgress the rules.
The change in policy steemed in the president request to fire players who choose to kneel than stand during the national anthem. In the previous policy, the players were required to be on the field and encouraged to stand when The Star-Spangled Banner was played.
"I think in many respects that's worse. Isn't that worse than not standing, you know? I think that's worse," Trump said.
Trump said that he does not want to cause any controversy but he cited that the league's policy was just completely stupid. The president added that the players should just go into the locker room if they don't like the flag.
Trump Unhappy With Goodell
The president also took a swing on league commissioner Roger Goodell in his remarks stating that the ratings of the NFL have nosedived despite the multimillion-dollar salary of the latter. Trump was present in Great Falls, Montana to attend a political rally that focuses on topics such as the NFL among others.
Just last month, the White House invited the Philadelphia Eagles football team to be in the White House but only a few players showed up which resulted in the event to be canceled. No NFL matches have taken place since the reaction of Trump on Thursday.
Trump also took credit for the recent decline of the TV ratings of the NFL. According to Trump, the amount of viewership of the NFL decreased because the people prefer to spend their time in politics. The president added that the public finds him more interesting than a football game.
Sports pundits say that Trump's claim that the league lost at a fifth least of its viewers last year is over-exaggerated. The regular season ratings dropped to 10 percent which is half of Trump's prediction. Moreover, the average Super Bowl viewers also decreased from 111 million to 103 million in February of 2017
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