“In many ways, the meetings would be a referendum on the same argument owners have been holding in private meetings for years: What is the NFL’s identity? Is it a strict entertainment company that Jones and others envision, controlling the behavior of its players in service of its financial bottom line? Or should it attempt to transform itself into a more socially conscious league that would strive, through the forging of a rare and fragile owners-players partnership in this moment, to use its mammoth platform to try to change society for the good, even if the cost of that process, slow and complicated, would likely be measured in short-term declining popularity and lower revenues?” Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr. take you inside the NFL meetings to decide how to handle the anthem-kneeling controversy made major by the president. Texans’ owner Bob “McNair, a multimillion-dollar Trump campaign contributor, spoke next, echoing many of the same business concerns. ‘We can’t have the inmates running the prison.'” (That line should go over pretty well in the Texans’ locker room…)

+ But wait. There’s (always) more to the story: From GQ: “The plan involved a covert political operative who worked with Putin, a double amputee, a settlement with Texas A&M, and—ultimately—a failed bid that opened up the opportunity for Donald Trump’s presidential run.” Inside Donald Trump’s Shady Scheme to Keep Jon Bon Jovi from Buying the Buffalo Bills.