Kansas City Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt releases middling statement

Clark Hunt, CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs, released an official statement on Sunday on the ongoing debate around the national anthem.

There was no surprise to be found in the official statement from Kansas City Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt on Sunday made in regards to recent remarks from President Donald Trump concerning NFL players using the national anthem as a time to protest or raise attention on social matters of race and inequality. That much was to be expected, as Hunt has found a way to toe the line between sides to keep everyone happy in some way.

Here’s the official statement as released by the Chiefs midway through Sunday afternoon:

"“We are blessed in the National Football League to work with an outstanding group of players who, through their thoughtfulness and generosity, are deeply engaged in their communities. I believe in honoring the American flag and supporting all of those whose sacrifices protect the many freedoms we have in this country, including the right to have differences of opinion. Sports have long been a unifying force – especially in challenging times – and hatred and division have no place in our game. As a nation, we face serious challenges, and I believe as Americans, each of us has a responsibility to engage one another with empathy and humility to gain a better understanding of ways we can work together to solve these difficult issues.”"

Within the statement is a thumbs for everyone, which should keep all sides happy (or maybe it’s tepid enough to not matter much to anyone). Certainly it’s more vanilla than statements made by other teams (check the Buffalo Bills’ statement from the Pegula family). As a local icon and influential citizen, Hunt checked all the proper boxes in any statement. A few notices:

• There is zero mention of President Trump whatsoever, which gives Hunt the ability to evade any direct sentiments concerning him and the POTUS. Other teams mentioned President Trump immediately and spoke directly to his statements in a response.
• Speaking of response, this statement reads like a response to absolutely nothing. There’s no way to read this and realize what’s happening in the world, just in case you haven’t been watching the news over the last few days.
• The best part of this statement is its mentioning of hatred and division and denouncing those as not having a place in the game (or this country). Even further, it would have been nice to point out the exact sources of hatred or specific evils since generalized issues are hard to target, let alone solve.
• Despite the general nature, Hunt’s statement ends on a nice note ,a calling for our civil selves to be just that, decent to one another. Our responsibility to each other begins in understanding one another and that cannot happen in blanket statements that denounce entire people groups (or ignoring the issues outright).