NFL owners meetings
Bell: Texans’ McNair at it again
ORLANDO – Bob McNair is at it again.
The Houston Texans owner, who ignited controversy last fall with his “inmates running the prison” analogy during a league meeting, is sure to spark more questions when he strongly defended scandal-scarred Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson and reiterated his position on banning national anthem protests in the NFL, as team owners gathered Sunday for the annual league meetings.
Asked about Richardson, who is un- der NFL investigation and has the Panthers on the market after allegations of workplace violations that were sexual and racial in nature, McNair said, “I hope this thing turns out that he’s innocent, as far as the allegations.”
Allegations, reported by Sports Illustrated, include Richardson making suggestive comments to female Panthers employees and using a racial epithet in addressing an African-American scout. McNair said Richardson offered an explanation to fellow owners after the allegations surfaced but would not reveal many details of that exchange.
“I think his regret is that he didn’t fight things as they came out,” McNair said, alluding to the reported out-ofcourt settlements that Richardson struck with alleged victims.
McNair, who called Richardson “a great owner,” stunningly tried to defend the alleged actions. “Some of the comments could have been made jokingly,” said McNair, 80. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to offend anybody.”
As he spoke to a small group of reporters in the lobby of the resort hotel where owners are meeting, McNair added fuel to the anthem debate that dominated discussion around the NFL last season.
As he has previously stated, he believes all players should stand for the anthem — a staunch position that undoubtedly factored into attorneys for Colin Kaepernick taking a deposition from McNair as part of the unemployed quarterback’s collusion case against the NFL. “Our playing field, that’s not the place for political statements, not the place for religious statements,” he said.
He added he would support measures to clearly express the expectations that players stand for the anthem, as is already suggested in the NFL’s game-day operations manual. Like other owners, McNair contends the NFL’s business has been adversely affected by the protests.
“There are fans that are upset about it,” McNair said. “Fans are our customers. You can replace the owners and the league will survive. You can replace the players, although the game won’t be good. You can’t replace the fans. If you don’t have fans, you’re dead.”