That's what stopped people from watching.
Now that we're not reading stories after every game about who on which team was kneeling, it's no longer in the publics' mind.
If they start kneeling again there will be another backlash.
For the NFL they benefit from 'out of sight, out of mind'.
Yes, people do have a short memory about this issue.
The owners passed an anti-kneeling rule in the off season, which would have been a good first step.
The players filed a union grievance and stopped it from taking effect.
There were kneelers the first weekend. I have to presume if they’ve gone this far to defend their ability to do it that it’s still happening and we just aren’t being shown.