National Anthem Bill Fails In Both Chambers

Tallahassee, FL – The state Senate and House Bill requiring sports teams to play the National Anthem or lose government funding fails in both chambers. The bills—HB 499, filed by Rep. Tommy Gregory (R-Sarasota) and SB 1294, filed by Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota)—would have required professional sports teams to play the national anthem before every sports game, it also would have required them to enter into an agreement with the state promising they would play it. If they didn’t, the teams ran the risk of losing any funding from the state. It advanced through the House earlier this year, riding on a 12-4 vote. But the bill never made it to the agenda for the House Judiciary Committee. Gruters’ counterpart also made it past the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee, but went no farther than that. To some, it’s no surprise that the bill failed in both chambers. Especially when there hasn’t been any instances of a team refusing to play the anthem in Florida, something even Joe Gruters admitted. “I don’t know of any instances in Florida,” Gruters said during the Senate committee hearing. “It’s just a proactive approach to make sure people play it.” However, some teams have refused to play the national anthem in the past, just not in Florida. In 2021, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was called out after his team stopped playing the anthem. Cuban said in a February 2021 ESPN report that the decision came after the team consulted its community, which felt the national anthem didn’t represent them. The bill also raised legal and ethical questions. In a previous interview with News Daytona Beach, ACLU Attorney Emerson Sykes said the bill would have gone against the compelled speech doctrine of the US Constitution—which says the government cannot force an individual or group to support certain expressions. In the state, taxpayers pay towards eight separate sports stadiums. This includes Tropicana Field in Tampa (Tampa Bay Rays), the FTX Arena (Miami Heat), the Amway Center (Orlando Magic), and TIAA Bank Field (Jacksonville Jaguars), just to name a few.