San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York said Wednesday he will halt concession sales during the national anthem after the NFL voted to prohibit on-field kneeling during the flag ceremony.

“For us, we’re going to close concession sales during the national anthem,” he said in a video interview on ESPN. “I don’t think we should profit during the national anthem if we’re going to ask people to be respectful. I think that’s something we should do to be respectful.”

He added that he wanted to “make sure we focus on the progress aspect of this, not focus on the protest.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the vote to require players to stand on-field during the national anthem was unanimous, but Mr. York said he abstained.

Why? “I think there are a lot of reasons, and I’m not going to get into all of those reasons,” he told ESPN. “But I think the gist of it is really that we want to make sure that everything that we’re doing is to promote progress. And I think we’ve done a good piece of that so far.”

49ers owner Jed York abstained from voting today on the NFL’s new anthem policy. The owner of the team that employed Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid told reporters: “I think there are a lot of reasons, and I’m not going to get into all of those reasons…. https://t.co/OFcWtaMxfl — Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) May 23, 2018

San Francisco players have been among the most visible anthem kneelers during the last two seasons, starting with quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who led the protests during the 2016 regular season, and safety Eric Reid, who also knelt throughout the 2017 season.

Both players are now free agents seeking jobs, and both have filed grievances accusing the league owners of colluding against them to prevent them from being hired.

The 49ers play at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

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