Arthur Rizer and Dennis Mcglothin

The Super Bowl will take place Sunday when the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles battle to determine who is the best football team of 2017. Naturally, this means it’s the perfect time to talk about the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

And of course, one cannot talk about the NFL and the First Amendment without talking about Colin Kaepernick and his crusade against police violence — and more specifically, whether the NFL or its owners can discipline him or other players who refuse to stand for the national anthem.

For better or worse, the truth in this case is that the First Amendment protects even speech that is insolent and disrespectful. Kaepernick may be a man who has made millions under the blanket of freedom provided, in part, by members of the military. And he may also be wrong in his failure to view his protest as disrespectful of their service and sacrifice. Indeed, the flag and the anthem do represent our military and our way of life.

But of equal importance, they also represent the protection of our freedom of expression. The true beauty of America is our willingness to embrace that freedom. It means that our sisters and brothers in uniform protect our electoral freedom, the freedom to make our own way in life and, yes, even our freedom to do and say disrespectful things. The First Amendment must be protected in its entirety — picking and choosing which parts to protect is not an option.

This more general debate has extended specifically to NFL owners, and whether their decisions to boycott Kaepernick’s hiring or to discipline other players who refuse to stand for the anthem violate the First Amendment. In most private employment situations, the answer would be no. Despite having a right to freedom of expression, our Constitution only protects individuals from government interference. It does not protect us from private interference from a fellow citizen or company (although there are some civil reme- dies for that). Yet, the NFL and its owners may not be an ordinary, private employer.

Back in the 1960s, our country had two major professional football leagues. During that decade, the two leagues decided to merge into one. Back then, opponents of the merger argued that it would create a monopoly, and Congress had to step in and pass special laws that exempted it from federal antitrust laws to create the National Football League we know and enjoy today. At that time, Congress also gave the NFL a special tax-exempt status.

Twenty years later, the USFL, an upstart league that avoided conflict with the NFL initially by playing in the spring, began butting heads with the NFL. At that time, as an owner of the USFL’S New Jersey Generals, Donald Trump led the USFL’S lawsuit against the NFL, alleging the organization of abusing its monopoly power. The jury in that case found the NFL was, in fact, a monopoly, but awarded the USFL only $1 in damages. Thus, in essence, today’s NFL is not only a monopoly, but a government-sanctioned one.

In light of this, the NFL and its owners may be restricted from interfering with their players’ First Amendment rights. As