No solution yet for anthem policy

Time is running out on the NFL and the NFL Players Association if they plan to have a new national anthem policy in place by the start of the regular season. After meeting again on Monday, the two sides issued a joint statement, suggesting work remains: "Today, we continued our productive dialogue on the issues that players have raised awareness about and we remain committed to working together on solutions. In the spirit of our ongoing collaboration and progress, we will continue the confidentiality of our discussions." In May, the NFL announced a new policy that requires any players who plan to protest to remain in the locker room. That replaced the existing policy that allowed players to protest during the anthem. However, the players' union challenged the new policy by filing a formal grievance, claiming league officials failed to involve the NFLPA in collective bargaining before issuing the new policy. As a result, the NFL said it would not enforce the new anthem policy, and began negotiations with the players' union in an effort to resolve the issue. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said earlier this month that no hard deadline is in place for coming up with a new policy. That suggests the regular season might begin with no new policy.