ORLANDO, Fla. -- The debate surrounding the national anthem just won't seem to go away for the NFL.
Art Rooney II said NFL owners spoke at length at their meetings here, which concluded Wednesday, regarding what to do about players kneeling or otherwise demonstrating during the playing of the national anthem that was a major issue for the league early last season. Despite those discussions, owners failed to come to an agreement regarding how the league will handle those issues moving forward and will continue the discussion at meetings in May in Atlanta.
"We had a good discussion about the anthem," the Steelers' president said. "We’re going to come back and discuss it in May. We approved the social justice campaign. I think the dialogue with the players will continue. But no decisions were made in regard to the anthem."
The national anthem demonstrations began in 2016 with former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the playing of the "Star Spangled Banner" before games to protest what he called police brutality against minorities and other issues.
It expanded to a few other players also taking part in the pre-game protests, but came to a head earlier this year when President Donald Trump ratcheted up the debate.
"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you'd say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired," Trump told a crowd in Alabama.
Trump's statements caused backlash across the league, as players who had not taken part in any form of protest decided to take a knee in response to what they felt was an attack by the president on the league and its players.
The Steelers, who had not had a player take part in the protests, took a vote the evening before their Sept. 24 game at Chicago last season, just a day after Trump's statement, and decided, as a show of team unity, to not take the field for the playing of the anthem in an attempt to remove themselves from any controversy. But it backfired when Alejandro Villanueva, a decorated Army veteran, went to the edge of the tunnel for the playing of the anthem, causing some to single out the Steelers as a major target of the backlash involving the situation.
The rest of the team remained several feet behind him in the tunnel.
Though some players around the league continued to kneel for the anthem the remainder of the season, the Steelers have continued to form a line on the sideline as they did before that incident and have not had any player protest the anthem.
And the league is still attempting to come up with a solution to the issue that will be amenable to all sides.
"I think there is a lot of discussion that is going to take place at the ownership level," Rooney said. "But there’s still discussion to be had with the players. There are a lot of parties involved. That’s why we’re taking our time with it."