Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur and television personality who owns the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, said in a recent interview that he made the decision to not play "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the team's home games. Though the policy has been in place since the preseason, no one seemed to notice until Monday, the first game that fans were allowed to attend.
Cuban declared this is not a temporary decision, and that the team will not be playing the anthem anymore.
The outspoken team owner supported the right of players to kneel during the national anthem as a form of protest against systemic racism in the United States, even going so far as to tell whom he dubbed the "National Anthem Police" to "complain to your boss and ask why they don't play the National Anthem every day before you start work."
Cuban has not publicly said why he made the decision.
The NBA actually has a policy requiring players to stand any time the national anthem is played, but league commissioner Adam Silver has simply suspended any enforcement of the rule in order to allow players to express their feelings.
