Roger Goodell: NFL Fans Don’t Come to Games to ‘Be Protested To’

Roger Goodell says fans don’t come to games to see players protest.

Roger Goodell took a new direction Wednesday in explaining why he wants NFL players to stop protesting during the national anthem. 

Goodell has been clear from the start that he wants NFL players to stand during the anthem and reiterated that point at the conference. The NFL also batted around the idea of implementing a rule that would force players to stand for the anthem but the policy didn’t garner much support from the league’s owners.

Speaking at a Bloomberg conference in New York, Goodell argued that fans don’t come to games to see players protest.

“[I want to] get beyond what we call protest to progress, get to the point where we can make that positive change, because people come to our stadiums to be entertained, have fun, not be protested to,” Goodell said, according to the New York Post. 

They presumably also don’t come to watch compulsory displays of patriotism, but never mind.