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<p>NEW YORK &#8212; In the face of fan unrest and accusations from the president about the league being unpatriotic, the NFL is not changing its national anthem policy to require players to stand.</p><p>Commissioner Roger Goodell and several owners said Wednesday at the league&#8217;s fall meetings that altering the policy language from &#8220;should stand&#8221; to &#8220;must stand&#8221; was not discussed.</p><p>New York Giants owner John Mara noted that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones &#8220;spoke at length&#8221; to the other owners about the anthem issue. Jones has said any Dallas player who doesn&#8217;t stand for &#8220;The Star-Spangled Banner&#8221; would not be playing.</p><p>Goodell reiterated that the league and its 32 clubs &#8220;believe everyone should stand for the national anthem. It&#8217;s an important part of our policy and the game. It&#8217;s important to honor our flag and our country and I think our fans expect that.&#8221;</p><p>Asked about any owners who threatened discipline for players who didn&#8217;t stand, Goodell said the owners didn&#8217;t discuss it.</p><p>&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t necessary,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We had a real focus on making sure all of our teams understood the kind of dialogue that took place and the kind of things that they were interested in getting support.</p><p>&#8220;And they were seeking support for the NFL, each club supporting its players and continuing the dialogue that they have had at the club level. I would tell you this, it&#8217;s unprecedented conversations and dialogue going on between our players and our owners, between our club officials and between our league, and that is a really positive change for us.&#8221;</p><p>Reminded that President Donald Trump tweeted again Wednesday about the demonstrations during the anthem, Goodell said there was nothing unpatriotic about his league.</p><p>&#8220;Everyone feels strongly about our country and have pride,&#8221; he said, adding the NFL is &#8220;not afraid of tough conversations.</p><p>&#8220;What we are trying to stay out of is politics.&#8221;</p><p>Goodell noted that only six or seven players are still kneeling or are involved in protests.</p><p>&#8220;We hope we will continue to work to put that at zero,&#8221; he said.</p><p>On Tuesday, in an unprecedented move for a league meeting, a group of 11 owners and more than a dozen players met for more than two hours at NFL headquarters. Among the topics discussed was enhancing the players&#8217; platforms for speaking out on social issues.</p><p>The league and players say they have seen their messages getting lost because their demonstrations were misconstrued by the president and by fans.</p><p>&#8220;I understand the way they feel about these issues,&#8221; Goodell said Wednesday. &#8220;We feel the same about patriotism and the flag and I believe our players feel that way. We have a great deal of support for the efforts of our players.&#8221;</p><p>Several players said after Tuesday&#8217;s discussions that progress had been made in not only explaining their positions, but in how the 32 teams and their owners could support initiatives.</p><p>&#8220;I think we all have mutual interests,&#8221; Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said. &#8220;I think players are a part of this league, so we want to make sure the quality of product that we put out on the field is great. But at the same time we have a responsibility to the communities that we live in, the communities that we come from, and so I think we all share that interest in really talk more in collaboration than an us-against-you type of situation.&#8221;</p><p>Like many owners, Mara has told Giants players that they should stand during the anthem, but that if they have a reason that compels them not to, the team won&#8217;t prohibit it.</p><p>He also expects more talks between players and owners in the next few weeks.</p><p>&#8220;I think there&#8217;s a consensus to keep having dialogue,&#8221; Mara said. &#8220;That&#8217;s where our hope is, and we hope over time, few players will kneel.&#8221;</p><p>NOTES: Goodell said the initiatives to enhance the pace of games have worked, including 40-second clocks after touchdowns, use of the Microsoft Surface tablets for replay reviews, and the centralization in the New York headquarters of officiating calls that are reviewed.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a news conference Wednesday in New York. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_NFL-Meetings.jpg</photo0><caption0>NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a news conference Wednesday in New York. </caption0><photoCredit0>Julie Jacobson | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Barry Wilner</p><p>AP Pro Football Writer</p></bylineMeta></div>

Roger Goodell: NFL not changing its national anthem policy