Story highlights Cowboys owner calls Trump statements "problematic"

Jones affirms team's rule to stand for anthem

Maintains Papa John's affiliation

(CNN) Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has acknowledged that US President Donald Trump's comments on the ongoing NFL anthem debate is proving damaging to the league.

"His interest in what we're doing is problematic from my chair, and I would say in general the owners' chair," Jones said at a press conference on Wednesday to mark the start of the Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California.

"It's unprecedented if you really think about it. Yes I would like -- everybody would like -- for it to go away."

Jones became the second NFL owner this week to weigh in on the matter. Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown said on Tuesday that Trump's views on the NFL had "worked against" the league.

"I think it stirred the pot," Brown said to reporters. "It got people looking at it unfavorably, and he has worked that issue for, I suppose, political reasons."

Members of the Dallas Cowboys linked arms while kneeling before a rendition of the US national anthem at an NFL game in Arizona on September 25, 2017.