The kneeling by players wasn't much of an issue last year, and this year it had all but disappeared.  Trump made this an issue.  He started the uproar at his political rally.  He has kept it going with his tweets and with his campaign ads - the threats that owners should fire the players or the fans should boycott the games.  Actually, his actions are probably a violation of USC 18.11.227.  It's unfortunate that no one - the DOJ or Congress - will do anything about it.