A meeting in New York between representatives of the NFL and the NFLPA along with players and team owners wrapped up after about four hours on Tuesday afternoon.
The meeting was set up to discuss ways for the league and players to address the issues behind player protests that have taken place during the playing of the national anthem over the last two seasons. The NFL and NFLPA issued a joint statement after the meeting came to an end that didn’t feature any specific talking points or actions that will be taken, but did say the sides will continue to work toward “common ground.”
“Today owners and players had a productive meeting focused on how we can work together to promote positive social change and address inequality in our communities. NFL executives and owners joined NFLPA executives and player leaders to review and discuss plans to utilize our platform to promote equality and effectuate positive change. We agreed that these are common issues and pledged to meet again to continue this work together.”
“As we said last week, everyone who is part of our NFL community has a tremendous respect for our country, our flag, our anthem and our military. In the best American tradition, we are coming together to find common ground and commit to the hard work required for positive change.”
Colts cornerback Darius Butler was at the meeting and shared his thoughts with Jenny Vrentas of TheMMQB.com.
“It’s not going to be fixed overnight, no resolution made right now, but it was a good dialogue,” Butler said.
The league’s owners will be meeting on Tuesday afternoon with the national anthem set to be a major topic of conversation.