Will Penn State, and other Big Ten football teams, keep their players in the locker room during the national anthem? The Big Ten allows players to kneel, but will that solve the problem?

Penn State players usually return to the locker room before the anthem

Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer posed an interesting question about the upcoming college football season,

Penn State football players may kneel during the national anthem, Big Ten says. But what if they’re not on the field for it?

Erin McCarthy, “Penn State might review football players’ 

location during national anthem,” Inquirer, June 17, 2020

In his first year succeeding the legendary Jim Delany as Big Ten commissioner, Kevin Warren has been facing some challenges. First, the cancellation of the NCAA Basketball Championships, and now the pandemic that has sidelined college athletes nationwide. 

However, the challenge for Warren, an African-American who was a former Chief Operating Officer for the Minnesota Vikings, is now focusing on the challenging of handling the race issue with college athletes. 

Warren told USA Today this week that players could kneel for the national anthem, but the question remains whether or not they will be on the field for that, since in past years, many had not,

But will Warren’s permission make a difference if football programs, including Penn State, continue long-held traditions that keep some of the university’s highest-profile players off the field during the anthem? …

Warren said as commissioner he would “personally empower student-athletes to express their right to free speech and peaceful protest” in an interview with USA TODAY Sports. But he did not address the discrepancy between his approval of anthem demonstrations and the pregame-show format at many big-time college football games, during which the marching band plays the anthem on the field and then players run out just moments before kickoff.

Erin McCarthy, “Penn State might review football players’ location during national anthem after Big Ten says it will allow kneeling,” Inquirer, June 17, 2020

How will Penn State handle the situation?

Penn State has said that it would evaluate the location of players during the anthem, and what makes this challenging is that Penn State Coach James Franklin is black, as Warren is. Franklin has been supportive of the actions of college athletes who have been outraged by the murder of an unarmed black man in Minnesota by a police officer,

Coach James Franklin, one of 13 black head coaches among the 130 FBS programs, has amplified his players’ voices on social media and was recently announced as one of nine Penn State representatives on the Big Ten’s new Anti-Hate, Anti-Racism Coalition. After Floyd’s death, he put out a statement on Twitter.

“These senseless deaths are a symptom of a larger problem and in moments like this, silence is deafening indifference,” Franklin wrote. “The direction of our country genuinely concerns me for the health and well-being of the young men I have devoted my life and career to leading. … The idea they can have their lives stolen from them before they get a chance to leave their mark on the world is unconscionable.”

Neither he nor his players have said whether they would want to demonstrate on game days, if sports return this fall.

Erin McCarthy, Inquirer, June 17, 2020

Will staying in the locker room offend players?

The Inquirer piece presented the dilemma that many colleges and universities have with the kneeling during the national anthem dilemma,

If an athlete shows solidarity with Black Lives Matter in a private space away from cameras, will it have an impact?

“Not so much,” said Ramogi Huma, the executive director of the National College Players Association. “The reason why kneeling during the anthem would have potential power is players using a platform they have in the most visible way.

“If it happens away from that stage, then it’s not going to be effective,” he added. “It would be as effective as them kneeling in their dorm room” … 

“Players have had enough,” Huma said. “Many of them saw themselves under that knee.”

If sports resume in the fall despite the coronavirus pandemic, it’s unclear whether these athletes will be able to take a knee on a national stage.

Erin McCarthy, Inquirer, June 17, 2020

Anthem not broadcast live

Most of the time, teams return to the locker room for last-minute preparations while the national anthem is being played. That was always the case in the NFL until the U.S. Department of Defense and the league entered into a promotional agreement in 2009 [another story for another time],

The national anthem is not typically broadcast live before college football games due to optics, said Matt Fine, an associate professor at Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication.

Historically, “airing the national anthem is awkward for TV because you’re not supposed to talk during it,” said Fine, who teaches sports production.

It wasn’t always a tradition at pro sporting events, and NFL players weren’t regularly on the field for it until 2009. 

Erin McCarthy, Inquirer, June 17, 2020

First, will the season take place?

Warren, in the USA Today interview, said that many elements of the Big Ten season, and the rest of college football, are up in the air,

Fall sports in the midst of the pandemic are top of mind for all college sports officials, Warren included. He said the Big Ten’s plan “is to have fall sports begin,” but said specific scheduling decisions will be made over the next 30-45 days. 

He did not rule out the prospect of some conference schools playing and others not playing, as Penn State football coach James Franklin brought up last month.

“Right now, I could get into multiple scenarios: what if this, what if that, what if it’s one school, two schools, what happens if it’s eight schools,” Warren said. “That doesn’t have to be a focus of mine right now. It will become a focus and that will be part of the decision-making process we’ll have in the next 30-45 days.”

He said a decision about allowing spectators in Big Ten stadiums also is yet to be made.

“The next 30 days,” he said, “will be critical.”

Christine Brennan, USA Today, June 15, 2020

So, time will tell whether the national anthem will be an issue and whether or not the season will occur at all. Warren did not mention which Big Ten teams may not field a team in the fall because that has not been determined, but obviously, some have expressed that concern.