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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has seized upon attention drawn to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s since-reversed decision to sideline the traditional playing of the national anthem before games, proposing late Wednesday a “Star Spangled Banner Protection Act.”
The act, identified as a “legislative priority” in a news release from the lieutenant governor’s office, would make mandatory the playing of the national anthem “at all events which receive public funding.”
Cuban said earlier Wednesday that the anthem had been played before none of the NBA team’s home games so far this year, reporting that there had been no complaints. Not playing or booking performances of the anthem sidesteps controversy over whether players and staff must stand at attention while the song is underway or are free to take other actions for social or political reasons.
Longstanding league policy, an NBA official reminded teams on Wednesday, calls for the anthem to be played. It also calls on players to stand. “With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy,” read a statement from NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass.
Cuban relented, saying the anthem would again be played beginning Wednesday night at the team’s American Airlines Center home but suggesting that he hoped those who are passionate about the need to hear the song before sporting events could also appreciate the passions of those who, for example, choose to kneel as a statement in support of racial equity.
The Margin: Mark Cuban reverses course, says NBA’s Mavericks will resume pregame national anthem performances
The Mavericks played a prerecorded anthem with both teams standing at respective free throw lines, as spelled out in NBA guidelines, before Wednesday night’s 118-117 win over Atlanta. In the past, the team had generally featured live performances of the anthem.
The Mavericks have recently begun welcoming, with free tickets, partial crowds composed of vaccinated health-care workers to the arena.
Patrick, the lieutenant governor, has in the past been described as seeking avenues to outflank Gov. Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican and fellow vocal backer of former president Donald Trump, on his right. Last March, in one such example, he took to Fox News to argue that older American workers — Patrick turns 71 in April — were more than willing to accept the risk of contracting a deadly virus in order to keep the U.S. economy and an American way of life intact.
Key Words (March 2020): Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says grandparents are willing to die to save economy for their grandkids
