NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the league believes players should stand for the national anthem but has stopped short of demanding it.
Goodell and the NFL were accused of "disrespecting" the United States on Wednesday when President Donald Trump continued his criticism of the protest being undertaken by a group of players.
The protest was started last season by then San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started to kneel during the anthem over perceived racial inequality in the country.
Trump's initial intervention earlier this season saw the number of players protesting increase to over 100 although Goodell said on Wednesday, in his recap of the NFL's Fall Meeting, that the number was in single figures.
However his comments appear not to have gone down well with Trump, who responded on Twitter: "@NFL: Too much talk, not enough action. Stand for the National Anthem."
Goodell said: "We spent a great deal of time with our owners discussing our efforts with our players. There is a great deal of support for the efforts that our players have identified.
"They not only support but recognise that these are important issues for our communities.
"They are American issues and certain things that we want as clubs and as the league that we want to support and be a part of and help lead with our players. I think those are the key issues.
"I will tell you though, another issue we spent a great deal of time talking about was how much we believe that everyone should stand for the national anthem.
"That is an important part of our policy, it's also an important part of our game that we all take great pride in. It is also important for us to honour the flag and our country - our fans expect us to do that.
"That is something that we continued to focus on. We are really talking about the opportunity that exists with our players to try to go and really make a difference in our communities in a positive way.
"We have about half a dozen players that are protesting. We are hoping to continue to try and work and get that to zero.
"We are focusing on what we can do and we should be doing as the NFL. I think that we have a great opportunity here with our players to really work together and to try and make differences in our communities. There are things we all believe are necessary to do and that is what we are going to continue to do.
"We also have to focus on the fact that we have six or seven players that are involved with the protest at this point and what we try to do is deal with the underlying issue and understand what it is they are protesting and what we can do to address that."