The controversy over the national anthem protest has been heating up, with Vice President Mike Pence most recently walking out of a Colts-49ers game during the protest demonstrations from 49ers players. 

Now it looks like the NFL top dawg himself, Commissioner Roger Goodell is speaking his piece in an official letter to all NFL teams, which was recently posted on Twitter:

Goodell wrote, "We believe that everyone should stand for the national anthem. It is an important moment in our game. We want to honor our flag and our country, and our fans expect that of us."

"We also care deeply about our players and respect their opinions and concerns about critical social issues," the letter continued. "The controversy over the Anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations and making real progress on the underlying issues. We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players."

As far as what "moving past" means, Goodell plans to incorporate an "in-season platform to promote the work of [the] players on these core issues" which will be discussed at the regularly scheduled NFL fall meeting Oct. 17 and 18, according to ESPN. 

It's uncertain as to how Goodell will implement his belief, but the NFL national anthem policy currently says that players "should" stand for it, but is not quite a full requirement.

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