Goodell urges alternative to anthem protests

LOS ANGELES — National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell has encouraged players to engage in community outreach in the wake of fresh protests against playing the US national anthem at preseason games.

Goodell told an Arizona Cardinals fan forum on Monday that while it was important to embrace different viewpoints, there was a “time and a place” to speak out. His remarks came after Seattle Seahawks’ Michael Bennett sat through the Star Spangled Banner on Sunday to raise awareness of racism and intolerance.

Bennett’s protest followed an identical snub by Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch, who also remained seated during the anthem at a preseason game against Arizona.

It came amid nationwide soul-searching following violent weekend clashes in Virginia linked to a demonstration by white nationalists, neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.

Goodell said he would prefer players to engage in community programs rather than protest the anthem.

“I think it’s one of those things where I think we have to understand that there are people with different viewpoints,” he said. “It’s something I think everybody wants. The national anthem is a special moment to me. It’s a point of pride.

“But we also have to understand the other side that people do have rights and we want to respect those.

“I was with the Jets a few weeks ago and one of the players was there in the fan forum actually and we were talking about this and they were asked the same question. And they said, you know, there’s a time and a place. for making a statement.

“And that’s what we all have to sort of understand. The responsibility of doing it at the right time and in the right way. And what we see is a lot of players going into the community and really taking the platform they have and being active and creating dialogue and actually making really positive change. That’s what I think is so important.”

Bennett told Seattle media he had emulated former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 anthem protest to draw attention to racism.