Goodell met with owners and players on anthem on Tuesday

By AP
Published

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell held a round-table meeting with roughly 25 owners, league executives and players on Tuesday night to discuss the national anthem demonstrations.

New York Giants linebacker Jonathan Casillas said the summit at the league's headquarters in New York lasted roughly two hours and was attended by several of the NFL's most prominent owners, including John Mara of the Giants, Robert Kraft of the Patriots and Art Rooney II of the Steelers. NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent also attended along with eight players from five teams.

Casillas said the group talked about what to do to move forward and how to approach the ''whole kneeling situation.''

''It was a whole bunch of opinions shared,'' Casillas said. ''There was nothing we decided we're going to do collectively. I think it was a very conducive meeting.''

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the gathering was one of the many conversations that have happened this week within the NFL.

''The commissioner believed with all the owners here for committee meetings it was important to bring in some players and hear directly from them,'' McCarthy said in responding to an email from The Associated Press. ''While the conversations will remain private, they were very informative and instructive.''

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