New Florida Bill To Require National Anthem Before Home Games For Pro Teams

A new Florida bill filed this week could force professional sports teams to play the National Anthem before home games if they want to obtain government funding.

After the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks momentarily stopped playing the national anthem prior to games, a similar law was introduced in Texas.

Representative Tommy Gregory of the state Republican Party of Florida, a Sarasota-area politician who introduced the legislation, said he wants to ensure that a similar situation does not develop here.

In an interview with the Herald-Tribune on Wednesday, Gregory said, “I haven’t seen any Mark Cuban-type, what I would view as anti-American, protests against our anthem or our flag but I certainly want to make sure that sort of negative activism is avoided, prohibited actually, if they want to do business with the government, and most of them do.”

The proposed legislation, HB 499, was first introduced in November. The law reads: “a governmental entity may not enter into an agreement with a professional sports team that requires a financial commitment by the state or a governmental entity unless the agreement includes … written verification that the professional sports team will play the United States national anthem at the beginning of each team sporting event held at the team’s home venue or other facility controlled by the team for the event.”

The Texas law, the Star-Spangled Banner Protection Act was signed into law in June:

The legislation passed last week and is headed to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for signature.

The anthem snub by the Mavericks, which lasted 13 games (including some pre-seasons games), was said to be “the first instance we know of a pro sports team striking the U.S. anthem from the pre-game,” according to Tim Cato, the reporter who broke the story for The Athletic.

Cuban confirmed to Cato that he was the one who decided the Mavs should pull the anthem.

“None of 13 preseason and regular-season games played at the American Airlines Center this season have featured the anthem before the game, including Monday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the first played this season with a limited amount of fans in attendance,” Cato reported at the time. “The Mavericks did not publicize the anthem’s removal, and The Athletic was the first media organization to reach out about the change after noticing its absence on Monday. Multiple team employees described only noticing the anthem’s removal on their own, as it was also not announced or explained internally.”

In response, NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass issued a statement stating that the anthem must be played by all teams. “With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy,” the statement said, as reported by NBC News.