The ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is expected to severely limit, if not eliminate, fan attendance at NFL games during the 2020 season, but fans won’t be the only ones forced to experience game days outside of the stadium. According to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, the NFL will not hold any live performances of the national anthem before games this season, and the league could also reduce the presence of military and police honor guards.

“The objective is to strictly limit the number of people on the sidelines who can potentially infect players and coaches with COVID-19,” McCarthy reported. “By the same token, the league will also crackdown on the number of credentialed reporters and photographers with access to the playing field. Given the pandemic, the number of medical personnel on the sidelines will remain the same.”

The “Star-Spangled Banner” will still be played before the start of each NFL game, McCarthy added, but instead of hosting performers on the field, the league “may ask performers to sing the anthem off-site, then pipe it live inside their stadium,” or simply play pre-recorded versions of the song before kickoff.

This isn’t expected to be the only change to anthem protocol in 2020. ESPN previously reported that the NFL also plans to play “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” traditionally known as the Black anthem, ahead of every Week 1 game across the league. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has also publicly encouraged players to peacefully protest social injustice this year; most protesting players in recent years have used some form of demonstration during the anthem to raise awareness of issues like racism and police brutality.

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Pence was attending a game in his home state of Indiana between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers.

When the national anthem was played before the start of the game, some 49ers knelt while some Colts, their arms locked, wore black T-shirts with the words “We Will” on the front and “Stand for equality, justice, unity, respect, dialogue, opportunity” on the back.

“I left today’s Colts game because President Trump and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem,” Pence said in a statement issued by the White House.

Critics began to question whether Pence had only attended the game in order to make a production of leaving, pointing out he flew from Las Vegas on Saturday and was then going to fly to California on Sunday evening.

Pence had planned for “several weeks” to attend Sunday’s Colts game, where former quarterback Peyton Manning was being honored, an official in his office said, asking not to be named. Additionally, he made a last-minute decision to travel to Las Vegas for a prayer service on Saturday, the official said.

“As he had discussed with the president, when several 49ers players disrespected the flag and the Nation Anthem, the vice president decided to leave the game,” the official said.

President Donald Trump said in a tweet on Sunday that he had asked Pence to leave the stadium “if any player kneeled, disrespecting our country.”

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy declined to comment.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution bars the government from limiting free speech, including prohibiting protests of the national anthem or punishing people who choose not to stand. The National Anthem is played before every NFL football game and many other sporting events.

Less than an hour after issuing Pence’s statement, the White House released a picture of him and his wife at the stadium where the game took place, standing with hands over their hearts during the performance of the national anthem.

Trump’s criticism of the NFL players has played well with his conservative base while he grapples with controversies over Iran and North Korea, an investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and policy struggles in Congress.

Pence’s team Indianapolis defeated San Francisco, 26-23, in overtime.

Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Ginger Gibson; Editing by Howard Goller and Lisa Shumaker

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nfl-anthem/pence-exits-nfl-game-after-players-kneel-during-anthem-idUSKBN1CD0SP

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